Kairi and the Seven Meddlers
by Anti-Twilight Forever
Summary: Kairi was ordered by her evil stepmother, Bellatrix, to be killed. Rather, she escaped into the woods where she meets seven meddlers, who decide to help her out... let alone meets the hansom Sora. But Bellatrix won't let her get away so easy...
1. Chapter I

**Well guys, I know I have another story to complete, but I've become inspired. **

**I saw that movie "Mirror Mirror" this weekend, and loved how they revised the fairytale of Snow White… so, I've decided to do the same, using some of my favorite meddler characters, and maybe a few anime characters too, plus others.**

**So, if you love classic fairytales about princes saving princesses from evil stepmothers… go read a different story, because this one is going to be slightly different ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the fairytale or any of the characters appearing in this fic, and thanks to the staff and actors who appeared in "Mirror Mirror" for inspiring me :)**

**Let us begin…**

***I***

_Once upon a time… though, actually, it's not exactly 'once', since this story has been told before. A lot. So much, in fact, that it would be a surprise that modern two-year-olds don't have it memorized… Heck, a lot of classic fairytales have been retold, remastered, revised, and remade a lot in the past hundred years…_

_But, I digress. Lets get on with the plot, shall we?_

_Our story begins in a beautiful kingdom, ruled by the wise and generous king, Tamaki Suoh, and his lovely and equally caring wife, Haruhi. During their marriage, they had a daughter who had her mother's beautiful brown hair, shimmering brown eyes, rose-pink lips, and pure beauty. They named her Kairi, and they raised her to be as loving and caring to the kingdom as they had been._

_But, before Kairi even turned two, a tragedy had struck the kingdom. The queen had gone out with her husband to the beach for their anniversary, and a great storm struck. A large wave crashed upon them, and only the king survived, while his wife was swept out to sea. The only thing that remained of her was the necklace he had given her as a gift that day, and the king fell into despair._

_Tamaki mourned for the loss of his love, having to raise his only daughter on his own. He watched her grow up, but as much as she resembled her mother, his mourning continued on, for he loved his wife quite a lot. And I mean a LOT… back in high school, he'd explode if another man laid a hand on her, really! He was practically obsessed with her! Fell so far head over heels in love, he made a crater deep enough to reach the center of the earth!_

_(ahem) But, one day, he realized that he would need a new wife, for he couldn't teach his daughter everything she needed to know… I mean, sooner or later, she would hit puberty, right? And if you know your biology, you'd know that girls grow up a lot differently than boys, and it would be pretty awkward for the king to tell his daughter about all the changes she had to go through in life and… well you get it. Kairi needed a new mother, we'll leave it at that._

_It was difficult, for Tamaki's heart was still devoted to Haruhi (which was no surprise), but one day while on a walk in the town, he met an absolutely gorgeous woman, and immediately fell in love with her and took her back to his kingdom to become his queen… which seems a little rushed, in my opinion. He should at least take her to dinner first, right? Get to know her, make sure she's not some psycho… because a lot of relationships turn out like that nowadays._

_This woman the king brought home was tall and sleek, with long black curly hair, wearing a black dress, her skin nearly pale. Her name was Bellatrix… and it was suspicious on why the king fell for her, according to the servants, but lets not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Tamaki spoiled his wife with gold and jewels and rare gifts… yet he gave Kairi the most of his love, and showed it to her every day._

_One day, the king had decided to go visit his old friend, Kyouya Otori, who claimed to have urgent news to tell him. Before he left, he gave Kairi a gift- a key-blade, which had a rose engraved on it. He then went off in his limousine… but as fate would have it, he never came home. The driver had returned, claiming that there had been a wreck and the king didn't survive. Kairi was devastated, of course… especially since she had Bellatrix as a step-mom._

_As the years passed, Kairi continued to grow as her parents raised her, with kindness and wisdom… while Bellatrix squandered her spoils and abused her authority over the kingdom. She forced Kairi to remain in the kingdom, dressed as a commoner just so she would appear more beautiful… which wouldn't work anyway. I mean, you could have the woman stand next to a pile of snot covered in cockroaches, and she still wouldn't look beautiful! She's so ugly, her face could crack water! So ugly, that when she was born, the doctor slapped her mother! SO DANG UGLY, that she scared the Grim Reaper to death!_

_Anywho, the kingdom fell into a deep despair, for not only were they forced to be ruled by the queen of blech!, but they had little money due to her spending, and their beloved king and queen were gone, and there was no hope for them to thrive again… and the weather got crappy too. Nothing but rain and snow, sometimes both at the same time!, and the sun never shined._

_What they didn't know was that, trapped within the kingdom, hope still survived… and it could be found in Princess Kairi's heart… and this is the story of how she used it to bring compassion back to the land._

***I***

**So, not much of an intro, and the character-choices probably weren't the best… but I'd like to hear your opinion. (but please don't flame)**


	2. Chapter II

**Wow, a couple people like my story already. Alright :D Here's the second chapter for you!**

***II***

_Ten years later… give or take a couple…_

Kairi stood on her balcony, looking at the morning sunrise. It was the morning of her fourteenth birthday, but rather than feeling excited, she felt a bit of sorrow. She wasn't allowed to have a celebration, and she never received any gifts… not even a single card. The servants, who loved her dearly, wanted to do something special for her… but it never really worked out.

The royal chef had made her a cake for her 5th birthday… but was then thrown into the dungeon for five weeks. Kairi allowed him to keep the cake so he'd have something pleasant to eat.

The royal seamstress had made her a beautiful white dress with two star-shaped flowers on the shoulders for her 6th birthday… but she and her youngest daughter were forced to wear rags, their best clothes taken away. Kairi gave her dress to the daughter so she wouldn't have to wear rags.

A couple of the maids had made her a card, covered in glitter with a bow on the corner, saying 'Best Wishes On Your Birthday' for her 7th birthday… and they ended up having to clean the pig-pen for the next twelve months. Kairi gave them a 'Thank You' card, and slipped a couple gold coins in it for their hard work.

Basically, every time the servants tried to do something nice for Kairi, they ended up being punished. And who was the one who submitted such cruelty upon them? It was none other than that wicked queen, Bellatrix. She wanted to make sure Kairi's life was miserable and stayed that way, so she would know who was in charge…

But, much to her dismay, Kairi was never miserable. A bit of sadness, yes, but never anything depressing. She admired the servants' efforts to cheer her up, even if they got punished. She didn't really want any gifts, anyway, or parties or cakes. She only had one wish on her mind each and every year…

To go outside the castle.

She hadn't been into town since her father had died, and she really wished to go out and explore, rather than being cooped up inside all day. Her only contact with the outside world was a small bat with a wire in his head, named Batty Koda, and a small fairy named Crysta, both who came from the dreary forest… who happened to stop by for a visit that morning.

"Hi, Kairi!" Crysta exclaimed, landing on her shoulder, watching as the rising sun disappeared behind the constant cloud cover. She handed Kairi a small rose. "Happy birthday!"

"Oh, Crysta, you remembered…" Kairi said, smiling as she held the rose.

"We always remember," Batty replied, then noticed Kairi's smile had faded. "Is something wrong? You're not allergic are you?" he turned to Crysta. "I TOLD you we should have grabbed her berries again! But no, you wanted to go with something different and break the routine!" he then did an imitation of a gangster. "Yer gonna regret this, kid…"

"No, no, it's lovely Batty, I really like it. It's just… it reminds me of my father. He loved to grow roses- he used to have some at his old school." she looked at Crysta. "Where did you find it? I thought the cold wiped them out?"

"I've been looking all season, and I managed to find a seed," Crysta replied. "And I helped it grow with my powers…" she sighed. "I wish I could grow more for you, but without the rest of the fairies, it's hard to grow anything…"

"Yeah, I wonder where they all went off to?" Batty asked.

"So do I-" Kairi began, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Gasping, she handed the rose back to Crysta. "Here, hide!"

Crysta and Batty dove into Kairi's desk drawer, just as Bellatrix stepped into the room. "Kairi, dear, who were you talking to?" she asked.

"Just… myself," Kairi replied, shrugging.

"Mm. Better quit that habit, otherwise people will assume you're crazy. Get dressed and get to your chores,"

"Um, mother? I'd actually like to make a request…"

Bellatrix paused, giving her a look. "What kind of request?"

"Well… it's my fourteenth birthday today, and I was wondering if, for just today, I could go visit the town square. Only for a couple hours,"

Bellatrix snorted and laughed. "Kairi, Kairi, Kairi… how many times must I tell you? You're just a little girl. You can't go out on your own, you're too small, too uninformed, too… socially inept. You know nothing about the world outside… and you have responsibilities that you can't brush aside."

"But-"

"I've spoken my word. You're to stay inside the castle and stick to your duties. I have a very important appointment this morning, so carry on." With that, the evil queen left the room.

Kairi sighed, and Crysta and Batty flew onto her shoulders. "Man, she is a witch!" Batty snarled, then imitated a frightened villager. "Burn her! Burn her!"

"Sorry, Kairi… Oh, if I could, I'd shrink her down to size so you could squish her!" Crysta fumed.

"Don't worry, guys. She told me I had to stay in the castle and stick to my duties… but she never said I couldn't leave," Kairi said.

"Doesn't staying in the castle mean just that?"

"That… or 'stay' as in 'live in' the castle, which I've been doing for years."

"Good loophole," Batty said.

Kairi exited the room and snuck through the kitchen, where one of the servants stopped her. It was a teenage girl with red hair, wearing a blue outfit- her name was Josie. "Princess Kairi," she whispered, then slipped something into her hand. "For you. It was your mother's… we found it in your father's chamber, untouched."

Kairi opened her hands to see the necklace, and she winced. "Thank you, Josie," she whispered, hugging her. She then walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Out to the town. If the queen asks, I'm out feeding the animals,"

Josie grabbed her hand. "Be careful, Kairi. It is not the same town as it was before… It's best for you to see what your step-mother has done to your father's kingdom, if your heart is strong enough."

Kairi nodded, then walked out, sneaking through the gate and heading into town.

***II***

Bellatrix, in the meantime, went to her appointment… with her magic mirror, where a reflection of a nerdy kid named Poindexter stood. "Mirror Mirror, on the wall," Bellatrix said, getting his attention.

"Yes my queeEEEAAUGH!" Poindexter cried out, making a disgusted face at her vile looks, but quickly composed himself. "(ahem) Yes my queen?"

"You yelped again. Why do you always yelp whenever I talk to you?"

"Er, because every time your… 'beauty' catches me off-guard, and I can't contain my excitement?"

She smirked. "I thought so. Mirror mirror, in the glass, give me an answer to the question I ask… The kingdom is starting to grow short on valuables, and we're going through a financial depression. I need a solution to this problem,"

"Well, first… 'glass' and 'ask' don't exactly rhyme, there's a difference with the 'k' sound-"

"Just answer the question! I need a get-rich-quick scheme, before I have to fire my hairdresser!"

"Should've fired her with the hairdo you're sporting now…" Poindexter muttered to himself.

"What?"

"I said I'm looking for the solution… now!" the image shimmered, showing two young teens riding through the forest. "It appears royalty comes our way. They come from a neighboring kingdom, overflowing with fortune and renewable resources. The young prince is to be betrothed to someone in this kingdom, rumor has it, so that his kingdom may expand and bring unity to the land-"

"You had me at overflowing fortunes." Bellatrix studied the two teens. Both were brown-haired boys with blue eyes, only one appeared to be 15 and well-dressed in a white uniform, while the other was 14 wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Her eyes fell on the oldest one. "Yes… he shall do just fine,"

Poindexter cleared his throat. "Yes, perhaps you could have Princess Kairi court one of them-"

Bellatrix glowered. "KAIRI? What makes you think I'M not suitable for the prince?"

"Well, no offense your majesty… but you're a little old for them, don't you think?"

"What do you MEAN old?"

"Well… I hate to show you the ugly truth, but…" the reflection shimmered, showing Bellatrix's reflection… and it was a miracle the mirror didn't break.

Bellatrix gasped, seeing that the mirror was right. "Oh… young men always go for older women, anyway! Besides, no one outside the kingdom knows that Kairi even exists! The prince will have no choice if he wants to unite the kingdoms anyway, right?"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that…" the reflection shimmered once again, this time showing Kairi going into town.

"GAH! WHAT IS SHE DOING OUT?" Bellatrix took a deep breath. "Alright, alright, I can handle this… he doesn't know she's a princess, she doesn't even look like one! He wouldn't believe it!"

Poindexter was staring dreamily at Kairi's image. "I hardly believe it… (sigh)"

"A-HEM!"

Poindexter cleared his throat. "Okay, okay… you're right. Just meet with the prince, discuss a treaty, and your financial problems will be over."

"Are you sure?"

"Absotively, posilutely."

Bellatrix stared out her window, glowering. "Either way, that girl is in for a hard time as soon as she comes back… if she's that stupid."

***II***

**Next chapter, we get introduced to the prince… and see what has happened to the village.**

**And just an additional disclaimer, I may include some ideas from "Mirror, Mirror,", but I'll try to keep it all original.**


	3. Chapter III

**Well, here's an update of my story (at last).**

**And, as requested, I shall be listing the shows the characters come from. Here are the ones used so far:**

**-Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)**

**-Batty and Crysta (Ferngully)**

**-Bellatrix (Harry Potter)**

**-Poindexter (Danny Phantom)**

**-Josie (Josie and the Pussycats)**

**-Tamaki and Haruhi (Ouran High School Host Club)**

***III***

Meanwhile, riding down the road on a motor-bike was a young teen about 14 with brown spiky hair and blue eyes. His name was Sora, and with him was a teenager of 16 with short brown hair, blue eyes, and a rat-tail, riding on a solar-surfer above him, who went by the name of Jim Hawkins. "Won't people find it ridiculous that a prince is riding through the air on a surf-board?" Sora questioned him.

"They'd find it weirder if one of his servants was riding a motor-bike," Jim scoffed in reply.

Sora rolled his eyes. He and Jim went everywhere together. Most people confused them for brothers sometimes, because of their brown hair, blue eyes, and rebellious natures. The prince's parents had sent them off to find a princess for the prince to marry (once he was old enough of course), so they could not only expand their land in a union… but also hope that if their son had a relationship, he'd mature a bit.

Jim looked around. "This land looks practically dead."

Sora looked around, seeing that the scenery was wet and muddy, the trees were dark with no leaves, and every plant was withered. "I never been to this area before…" he said.

Jim landed his solar-surfer and looked around, and Sora stopped his bike next to him. He saw an old sign covered with moss, and brushed it away. "'Welcome to the Roseland Kingdom'," he read aloud, and looked around. "So… where the heck are the roses?"

"I've heard of this place before. It was once a beautiful land, where the people were always happy, the food supply was always increasing, and the forests were full of life," Sora looked around. "I wonder what happened?"

"C'mon, lets go find this kingdom, maybe we'll find out-" Jim began, but was cut off by a growling noise. "What was that?"

Sora heard a hissing sound, and drew his key-blade, looking around. "Alright, whoever you are, show yourself!"

There was chuckling then, followed by the revving of an engine. The two boys turned around, seeing a black-and-white cat sitting in the middle of the road. The cat pointed upward, and the boys looked up…

Seeing a net fall over them! "Hey!" Jim shouted, and suddenly the net hauled them up into the air, swinging them around like a sling and then casting them into a murky pond. A blue dorsal fin then began to circle them. "SHARK!"

"In a pond?" Sora questioned, then realized he had dropped his key blade in the water. "Oh no…"

"Looking for this?" asked a voice, and they saw a large blue shark holding up the key-blade, grinning.

"Sora?" Jim gulped.

"Yeah?" Sora answered.

"I think we should get out of the pond. NOW."

"Good idea."

Frantically splashing, they climbed out of the pond. Sora summoned his key-blade out of the shark's grasp, still facing it, watching as it stepped out of the water! There was more chuckling, and a pair of invisible hands yanked their pants down! "Looks like the moon's out early!" came a disembodied voice. "Better look out for the werewolves!"

"Werewolves?" Sora and Jim questioned.

"You rang?" A voice growled, and they spun around, seeing a brown-furred werewolf behind them.

"WHOA!" They jumped back, their pants still down and making them fall over. They pulled their pants back up and quickly ran back to their vehicles, seeing a dog, a hairy caveman, and the cat looking through their baggage, taking their cash!

"Hey, put that back!" Sora snapped, running after them…

Stepping into a hole dug in the ground, with Jim close behind. "Oof!" they grunted, hitting the ground.

They heard an engine and watched a small car pull up, which their attackers piled into and rode off.

"Sora?" Jim said, bluntly.

"Yeah, Jim?" Sora answered.

"…This stays off our facebook pages."

***III***

Kairi continued her way through the woods, with Batty and Crysta at her side. "You sure you want to go through the woods?" Batty asked, nervously. "I heard there's a less dangerous route near Old Man Jenkin's farm…"

"This is the only route where no one will follow us," Kairi told him. "My step-mom might have sent a dozen guards after me by now," she gave him a curious look. "Why are you so nervous about me being out here, anyway? You both lived out here your whole lives,"

"Only in the safe parts," Crysta answered. "There's been word among the animals that a beast prowls through this forest, waiting for some fool to wander into its paws."

"Oh? And have you seen this beast?"

"Most of the animals have. It's ten feet tall with glaring eyes, sharp fangs, horns, claws, brown fur, and a fearsome roar that sends the forest into a stunned silence."

"And that it will eat anything in sight, little girls included." Batty added, and Crysta nudged him in the arm.

"Well, I'm not scared. I'm not going to let some legend keep me from seeing what's happened to my father's kingdom," Kairi said, firmly.

"Watch out!" Crysta gasped, flying in front of her.

Kairi looked, seeing that she was just two steps from walking into a pit…

…where she saw two teenage boys trying to climb out, the shortest one standing on the tallest's shoulders, grabbing onto a root which only broke in his grip, causing him to fall. "Okay… how about if I get on YOUR shoulders?" the tallest boy grunted.

"Are you alright?" Kairi asked.

The boys looked up. "Oh, thank God!" the shortest one exclaimed. "We're alright, but we could use some help. Do you see a solar-surfer up there?"

Kairi looked over, seeing one. "Yes,"

"Thank God they didn't steal it," the tallest one said. "I just got that thing upgraded…"

"Toss it down to us, could you please?" The shortest one asked.

"Sure, hang on," Kairi said, grabbing the board and carrying it over, but it slipped in her grip. "Whoa! Look out!"

*crash!*

The board landed on the two boys, but luckily hadn't broken. "Thanks…" the boys said, a bit dazed. They climbed on and hovered out of the hole.

"What on earth happened to you?"

"We were riding by and stopped to see where we were, when we were attacked," the short one said. "A bunch of weirdoes came at us and stole our money, then lead us into this trap,"

"The Thieves of the Forest," Crysta gasped.

The tall boy did a double take. "Whoa! Didn't know there were fairies in this area," he said.

"And I didn't know boys still wore their hair in pony-tails," Batty commented from behind him.

The boy covered his neck. "It's a rat-tail! See how the back of it is shaved? There's a difference!"

"Who are these thieves?" Kairi asked Crysta.

"We don't know. We just heard stories about how they raid any passerby for anything valuable," Crysta answered. "We've never seen them before, though."

"By the way, what's your name?" the shortest boy asked.

"My name is Kairi. What are your names?" she asked.

"I'm Sora, and this is Jim Hawkins,"

"Thanks for helping us out, but now we have to get going," Jim said, getting on his solar-surfer. "Do you need a lift?"

"Which way are you going?" Kairi asked.

"This way," Sora answered, pointing north.

Kairi pointed south. "I'm going this way. It was nice meeting you two,"

"You sure you don't want us to give you a lift? Those thieves might still be around…"

"It's alright, I'll be fine. Thank you, though." She continued on.

"Why didn't you take the offer?" Batty whispered.

"My father taught me to never accept rides from strangers,"

Sora and Jim continued their way, though Sora took a glance back, right as Kairi did, and they smiled at each other, then continued on their way.

***III***

**Well, we've had the prince-encounter, and who all recognized the thieves?**

**-Sora (Kingdom Hearts)**

**-Jim Hawkins (Treasure Planet)**


	4. Chapter IV

**Well, here's the next chapter (finally). Also, since some of the chapter-numbers are in roman numerals, I'd appreciate it if anyone can point out if I make a mistake.**

*IV*

Meanwhile, Bellatrix's two (only) trusting servants waited for her in her chambers. They were two black teens, one a girl and the other a nerdy-looking boy, who she had hired a while back… and surprisingly, they were the first ones who lasted a whole week without being tortured, cursed, or fired via the words 'avara kedavra'. Their names were Laura Winslow and Steve Urkel. …And they were quite creeped out about their job position.

"How did we end up working for the Queen of Mean, again?" Laura asked, questionably.

"Don't you remember, my sweet?" Steve replied, enthusiastically. He had a major crush on Laura… much to her annoyance. "We needed jobs for the summer, and this was the only open position in the whole kingdom."

"Yeah… but there's three problems. One: I doubt it's been summer here in the past hundred years. Two: Not many people have survived this job. And three: Our boss is psycho! …Not to mention the salary stinks."

"Well… why don't we quit, then?"

Laura gave him a look. "Do you remember what happened to the LAST sucker who tried to quit?"

Steve cringed. "Oh, yeah… Poor Kenny."

The doorknob then clicked as it turned. "Here she comes…"

Bellatrix entered. "Muggles, I have jobs for you. A prince is coming and we need supplies to set up a ball for him. I want the finest foods, the most elegant decorations, the latest music, everything." She said quickly, walking by, having them follow, as she searched through her wardrobe. "I also need a new gown. Something that's never been worn or seen- something that says 'I'm charming, but fun'."

"Um… I hate to tell you this, my queen, but there's a problem with your idea…" Steve said, timidly.

Bellatrix turned, giving him a glare. "What is that?"

"Well… we're broke. All the money was spent on that yacht you had made… the one that hit an iceberg and sunk like the Titanic."

"Namely because she had it built as an exact model of the Titanic," Laura added quietly.

Bellatrix cursed. "Then go to town and collect some taxes to fund for it!" she ordered.

"B-But, we already collected taxes this month!" Steve pointed out.

"Yeah, the people will get suspicious if we demand more money," Laura added.

"Make something up. Say it's going into a fund for… I don't know, research on some made-up disease you Muggles always catch!" Bellatrix sneered. "Say it's for a good cause, they'll buy into that! Now, hurry!"

Steve stumbled out, knocking over a vase as he did. "…Did I do that?" he asked. Bellatrix gave him a heated glare, and he shot out quickly.

She turned to Laura. "And tell the other female servants to meet me in the spa," she turned to a mirror. "We've got some work to do,"

"A LOT of work…" Laura muttered.

"WHAT was that?"

"Nothing! Lets get your nails done first, shall we?"

*IV*

Jim and Sora arrived at the castle, being escorted to the throne room. "The queen will be right with you," one of the guards said. "She's just having some work done,"

"A LOT of work," another guard added under his breath.

Jim and Sora stood there, patiently. "So… you really think this is a good idea?" Jim asked.

"I hope so… but…" Sora said, looking at the single throne. "…Where's the king?"

"Her royal highness, Queen Bellatrix Lestrange!" a servant announced, and Bellatrix walked in, wearing a silver gown with gray trimmings, her hair done up, and her makeup hiding any blemishes…

…But it couldn't hide the ugly. "GOOD GRIEF!" Jim shouted, his tone a tad higher, as he jumped back. He whispered to Sora, "Where'd they dig HER up?"

"First impressions…" Sora said out of the corner of his mouth, forcing a smile to Bellatrix. "Might I present to you, Prince James Pleiades Hawkins," he nudged Jim.

"Oh. Right." Jim cleared his throat, standing up straight. "A… pleasure to meet you, your highness."

"The pleasure is all mine…" Bellatrix replied, then arched an eyebrow. "But, I must ask… why are you two so filthy?"

Jim and Sora looked at themselves, realizing they were still grimy from their encounter back in the woods. "It's a long story… which leads to something we'd like to inform you about." Sora said.

"You may inform me during dinner. You are welcome to clean yourselves up, if you'd wish."

"Thank you, your majesty," Jim said, and he and Sora walked off.

Laura looked at the other servants. "She was being nice?" she mouthed to them, and they could only shake their heads out of shock.

*IV*

When Kairi reached the village, she was horrified. Houses were falling apart, a pair of dogs were fighting over a scrap of rotting meat, and a woman and child were sitting in an alley with an old blanket wrapped around them. _What has happened to my father's kingdom? _she questioned.

Crysta and Batty were hidden in her pocket, and they were equally horrified. "Wow… didn't think I'd see the day humans would resemble animals," Batty remarked, and Crysta elbowed him.

A little girl with blonde hair, wearing a ragged blue dress walked up to her then. "Excuse me, miss, but do you have anything to eat?" she asked, then pointed at a boy with a red black-striped shirt, holding an old blue blanket. "My brother and I are starving,"

"I'm sorry…" Kairi apologized.

Suddenly a funny-looking prius pulled up, and Steve walked out, nailing a poster to a pole… hitting his thumb in the process. "YEOW! Ouch! Ow! Ooh!" he shrieked, grabbing a chunk of snow and sticking it on his wounded thumb. "Aahhhh…"

"MORE taxes?" A bald old man wearing a white shirt, brown pants and suspenders, bearing two teeth, questioned. "Are you crazy? I don't even ask for this much rent at my boarding house!"

"I'm sorry… The queen says it's for a good cause," Steve replied.

"What good cause?" Another old man, this one with receding hair, thick-framed glasses, and a bushy mustache demanded. "She's done nothing good since King Tamaki vanished! What's she spending our hard-earned money on?"

The towns people jeered, circling around the teen, who began to panic. "She's working on it! It's just… taking a lot of time! I- whoop!" Steve slipped on ice and slid smack-dab into his car, which he quickly climbed into and drove off.

Kairi snuck away, heading back to the castle. "Whatever this 'cause' is, it's anything but good." she said matter-of-factly.

"What are you going to do, Kairi?" Crysta asked.

"I'm going to confront the queen. You guys go back to the forest, it may get ugly."

"If we have to look at her face, I doubt it could get any uglier," Batty remarked.

*IV*

"I'm telling you, Jim, there's something odd about this place…" Sora was whispering as he and Jim sat in a large hot tub. "I mean… that queen doesn't look like the kind who'd want to unite the lands. Even if she was, look at the land around here!"

"I know, but we'll have to stick around and try to form a union, otherwise we can't go back to the palace," Jim replied. "Plus, I figure if we stay, we can probably find out what the problem is,"

"You really think we could fix a disaster like this?"

"If not us, who else?"

They slipped on some nice clothes and walked back out. "…I just hope we don't have to sit close to her at dinner,"

*IV*

At this time, Kairi snuck through the kitchen, where she immediately ran up to Josie. "It's worse than I imagined," she sobbed, hugging her. "Everything's been destroyed, and everyone's practically homeless, no one has a job… It's like Obama is running things!"

"Don't worry, Kairi, I have good news," Josie said. "A prince has come, wanting to form a union- at least that's the rumor I've heard. If you can marry him, you will become the new queen, AND we'll have an alliance to help us!"

Kairi considered this. "But how am I going to meet him? Bellatrix won't let me anywhere NEAR him,"

"No doubt about that… but I have a plan. The queen is throwing a ball tonight after dinner. There will be enough people in the room so you can blend in, and manage to meet him."

"What if Bellatrix is nearby?"

"Don't worry, we'll handle everything."

*IV*

**Cameos starred were:**

**-Steve and Laura (from Family Matters)**

**-Sally and Linus (from Peanuts)**

**-Grandpa Phil (from Hey Arnold)**

**-and Grandpa Lou (from Rugrats)**

**Next chapter, Kairi puts the plan into action… will she succeed?**


	5. Chapter V

**Wow, about time I updated, right? Well, here's the next chapter.**

***V***

Bellatrix had spent the rest of the day making sure everything was set right for the party, paying no attention to the fact that Kairi had snuck back into the castle… though that didn't mean she wasn't suspicious. As the banquet was set up, the witch walked up to Kairi's room (that is, after she turned one of the servants into a toad for making her butt too big on the ice-sculpture, though to everyone else it was the right size). "The party is about to begin, Kairi." Bellatrix told her as she entered. "You wouldn't, perhaps, want to join, would you?"

_Like you'd let me… _Kairi thought bitterly, but replied sweetly, "I would, but I wouldn't want to spoil the evening for you."

The witch nodded. "Very good. I see you're starting to learn your place around here," With that, she walked out, shutting and locking the door behind her.

"I think she's on to us…" Batty whispered as he and Crysta poked their heads out from behind a vase of flowers.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Kairi? She was pretty suspicious…" Crysta asked.

"That, I don't doubt." Kairi replied, then walked over to her bed, where she pulled something out. "Which is why Josie whipped up a disguise for me." She held up a white gown with a fluffy collar, with angel-wings attached and a sparkling mask. She walked behind a changing screen and slipped it on, walking out.

Batty let out a descending whistle. "Someone call God, one of His angels fell to earth." He said.

"You look beautiful!" Crysta gasped in awe. "But, how are you going to get down to the party without being noticed?"

Kairi walked over to her wardrobe, opening it, then tapping on the back wall, which slid open. "My father had a knack for installing hidden passageways. He did it when they were teenagers in high-school, inviting the rest of his friends over and playing hide-and-seek, and he'd go off to hide with my mom every time."

"They played hide-and-seek in high-school?" Batty questioned. "I thought that game grew old after 4th grade."

"Not for my dad. As a child, he never played any games commoner children played, so he thought playing them with my mother would not only help her feel welcome, but also help him catch up on what he missed. He was always a child at heart…" she sighed, the memory of her father making her wince. She shook her head, stepping into the passage. "You two fly down to the ballroom through one of the windows, let me know if my step-mom is up to something."

They flew out the window while Kairi walked down the passage…

Not knowing Bellatrix had been watching with her mirror. "So, the little wench thinks she can outsmart me, does she?" Bellatrix huffed, wearing a black gown with a black, spike-edged mask. "We'll see about that. Poindexter, show me the prince…" she looked, seeing that Poindexter was still staring at Kairi.

"She really does look like an angel…" Poindexter swooned, little hearts bubbling above his head.

"POINDEXTER!"

Poindexter turned his attention to her. "GAH! CHURNABOG!" he jumped back, trembling… but looked closer. "Oh, my queen, it's just you. Sorry about that."

Bellatrix scowled. "Watch yourself, kid, otherwise you'll end up like the mirror in the bathroom!"

"You mean the one that cracked when you looked into it?" Bellatrix raised her wand, and Poindexter shrieked. "Uh, one view of the prince, coming up!"

The reflection shifted, changing into a view of Jim holding up a blue suit with a dark cape and charcoal mask with stars framing the eyeholes, while Sora held up a white suit with a red cape and burgundy mask with a black trim. "I told you we should have ordered online…" Jim was muttering, sneering at his costume.

"Ah, so that's what he shall be wearing," Bellatrix said, smirking. "Seems as if this 'mystery masquerade' won't be so mysterious,"

"…Not since you cheated, it won't be." Poindexter huffed.

"Silence, or I'll use the violet-scented Windex!"

"But I'm allergic to that stuff!"

"Which would make it a good idea for you to shut up." Bellatrix turned away, looking out the window at the oncoming patrons. "Not only will I have the chance in winning a prince over tonight, but I will also have the chance to get rid of that snoopy little brat. With her out of the way and with me as the only beau to court the prince, I'll become the richest queen in the world, and have favor over two kingdoms!"

"You know… it's not wise to boast about your evil schemes. The walls have ears, you know."

Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "Save it for someone who gives a crap." With that, she exited the room.

…Not knowing a fairy and a bat had been blending into a portrait of an eerie mansion, overhearing the scheme. "C'mon, we must warn Kairi!" Crysta whispered, and they flew out the window.

*V*

Sora and Jim looked at their outfits, noticing they didn't suit them at all… let alone were the right sizes. Jim's outfit was too small while Sora's was too big. "Feel like swapping suits?" Sora suggested.

"Do we have a choice?" Jim replied.

*V*

Kairi entered the ballroom, seeing that everything was set up beautifully, the food lining at least twelve tables and crystal chandeliers having been hung from the ceiling, while a formal orchestra played "Requiem for a Dream". It would have been breathtaking, if she didn't have to remember that the kingdom had been ripped off to pay for all of it. She walked along, trying to spot any sign of the prince…

That's when she realized something. _I don't even know what the prince looks like! _She thought, and mentally kicked herself. She searched for Josie, hoping she would know, though her mask kept slipping and blocking her view, and she had to lift it to get a look around…

"Well, didn't think I'd see you here."

Kairi gasped and spun around, seeing Sora standing there, wearing a blue suit, dark cape, and star-eyed mask. "What are you doing here?" she asked, letting out a relieved laugh.

"Well, this ball is held for the prince… and I happen to be close to him." Sora replied, grinning. The music began to play slowly, and he offered his hand. "Care to dance?"

Kairi blushed but nodded, taking his hand.

Bellatrix, in the meantime, searched the crowd for the prince. "Excuse me, your highness…" Jim said, walking by… but since he and Sora had exchanged outfits, she did not recognize him.

"Not now, you little slave." She snapped… and I have a feeling she'll regret it later. She saw Kairi dancing with her 'prince' and began heading over there.

Batty and Crysta saw the trouble, and quickly flew over to the band. "Fairy power strong and sweet, have the music pick up the beat," Crysta whispered, enchanting the instruments and having them play a faster medley of that of 'Cotton Eyed Joe'.

Everyone in the room suddenly started square-dancing, and Bellatrix got hooked by the arms and led away from Kairi and Sora. "So you know the prince?" Kairi was asking Sora, both of them maneuvering themselves so they could stay together rather than switch.

"Know him more than you know," Sora answered. "Why?"

Bellatrix broke away and started heading toward them. Crysta cast another spell, making the orchestra play "What Is Love?". The ballroom suddenly turned into that of a nightclub, with the lights going out and colorful beams flashing randomly.

Sora and Kairi danced close, so not to lose each other. "Well, you see… I'm actually the princes, here." Kairi told him. "And right now, the kingdom is in trouble,"

"What kind of trouble?" Sora asked, concerned… then his eyes bulged. "Wait! You're a princess? Why didn't you say something?"

"I was trying to lie low… it's a long story."

"Hey, I've got time,"

Bellatrix took out her wand and zapped the lights, making them turn on, and she saw that Kairi was just in reach. "Do something!" Batty gasped, gripping Crysta who was just casting a spell, shaking her and causing her to goof up.

The orchestra suddenly started to play the 'Mortal Kombat' theme… and suddenly all the patrons got into a heated tournament, wrestling with each other, punching and kicking everyone, breaking chairs over each other's heads. Sora quickly pulled Kairi out of the line of fire, both of them arching eyebrows at the sudden havoc that broke out.

"Oops…" Crysta gulped.

Before Bellatrix could even spot Kairi, someone slammed a watermelon on her head. "Oof!" she grunted, prying it off. "Alright, this has gone far enough…" She took out her wand and zapped the band, making the music stop. "I believe it is time we took a break from the dancing,"

The patrons moaned, nodding and composing themselves, all the while grabbing some ice from the punch-bowls to put on their bruises.

"Well, you see, my step-mother, the queen, she…" Kairi was trying to tell Sora.

"She's coming this way!" Batty yelped as he and Crysta flew over to Kairi. "Kairi, she recognizes you! She used some sort of magic mirror to spot you!"

"You have to get out of here!" Crysta warned her.

Kairi gasped, seeing Bellatrix heading her way, and turned to Sora. "I have to go. Come by my room later," she said quickly, and rushed off.

"Hey, wait!" Sora called, trying to run after her, but bumped into Jim.

"Oof! …Hey, where have you been?" Jim demanded, and from the way his clothes were torn, his hair was messed up, and how large his bruises were, he had a rough night. "I tried looking for you before this ball became a fight-club,"

"Jim, I just met the princess! She says the kingdom is in trouble,"

"Princess? I didn't know there was a princess…"

"C'mon, we've got to find her!"

*V*

Kairi ran down the hall to a secret passage, racing back up to her room…

Seeing that Bellatrix was already there, with Steve at her side. "Well, well, well… look who decided to bend the rules, again." Bellatrix sneered, ripping off Kairi's mask. "As if leaving the castle wasn't enough? You really ought to know better than to disobey your mother and break her rules,"

"You're NOT my mother, and I don't have to follow your rules anymore," Kairi snapped.

"Hmph. And I thought girls didn't start acting like rebels until they were 16. Now, you listen to me, Kairi- as long as you live in my kingdom, you'll do as I say… and I say keep away from the prince."

"You're wrong on that part, Bellatrix. Traditionally, this kingdom belongs to my parents, thereby it originally belongs to me, and I say you should stop squandering its fortune and robbing the people blind! I plan on making a union with the prince, and undoing the damage you've done!"

Bellatrix sneered. "We'll see about that…" She took out her wand and zapped Kairi, making her body go numb. "Can't do anything if you can't move, can you?"

"You witch!" Crysta snapped, and prepared to cast a spell on Bellatrix, but the witch acted fast and zapped both her and Batty, trapping them inside a crystal ball.

"You'll make a lovely ornament for my room," Bellatrix set the crystal ball on a pedestal, then turned to Steve. "Urkel, take Kairi out into the woods and dispose of her."

"But-but, my queen! Don't you think that's a bit… drastic?" Steve stammered. "I mean, whenever I broke the rules, all my parents did was ground me… though I never broke the rules. I broke a few dishes, vases, windows, roofs, doors, tables, and porcelain collections, but never-"

"Just do it, you clumsy muggle! And just so I'm convinced you didn't disobey me, bring me back her heart."

Steve let out a large gasp. "W-W-W-WHAT? B-But, Bellatrix, your highness! I couldn't cut out her heart! Blood makes me squeamish… and I was never good at dissecting things. Why, I remember one time in biology class-"

"DO IT… otherwise your precious Laura can take her place."

Steve gulped, then grabbed Kairi. "Y-Yes, my queen…" With that, he exited the room.

Bellatrix left next, heading in a different direction. "Time to find my prince and make sure that little brat didn't mess anything up."

*V*

Jim and Sora sat in their bedroom later that evening. "…But she didn't tell you what was going on?" Jim asked.

"No, she ran out before she could give me the full story." Sora replied. "But I plan on meeting her again later and getting some answers. This quest for courtship just became a quest for the kingdom's well-being."

"At this rate, we ought to be allowed back in our kingdom from the trouble we've been through… Running into a bunch of weirdoes in the woods, coming across a queen that could make an onion cry, and going to a dance that turned into a World Wide Wrestling tournament…" he put an ice-pack on his head. "Go try to find the princess, before anything else happens."

Sora nodded, then left to find Kairi.

*V*

What he didn't know was that she wasn't in the castle anymore. Steve had taken her out into the woods, as a fierce blizzard started to stir up. He had driven his prius up to the bridge, then took her out of the car to walk through the woods. By that time, she had come to. "What's going on?" Kairi asked, noticing her hands were tied. "Steve…? What's going on?"

Steve sniffled. "The queen has given me orders to kill you…" he replied, whimpering.

Kairi sighed. "Go figure…"

"I don't want to do it, Kairi, but if Bellatrix doesn't get a heart back, she'll hurt Laura… and I know she'll just hurt you, and I don't want to end up losing too wonderful women in my life."

Kairi began to sob. "Don't do it Steve… please… you're not a killer…"

"I know…"

*Swish!*

Steve brought the knife down, cutting the ropes around her wrists. "I'm a coward. Go, Kairi! Run and get as far away from here as you can!"

Kairi got up, starting to run. "But… what about…"

"Don't worry about us! Just save yourself, before the beast comes!"

Kairi froze. "What beast?"

As if on cue, there was a mighty roar. "That one!" Steve shrieked and ran off, while Kairi took off in another direction.

Whatever was in the woods was drawing near, and Kairi picked up the pace, lifting her dress to help herself sprint. The trees blended in with the snow, and she tried hard not to run into them…

*Bump!*

*Bam!*

*Bonk!*

…Steve, on the other hand…

Kairi kept running, passing by a statue covered in vines. She slowed down a bit, looking up at the statue, seeing it seemed familiar… Another roar interrupted her thoughts, however, and she continued to run quick, looking back once and seeing a large shadow had stopped in front of the statue.

*Wham!*

She wasn't watching where she was going and hit her head on a low branch, falling unconscious. Before her vision went dark, she could make out a small house not too far off, and then a shadow loomed over her…

*V*

**And there goes another cliffhanger. I must say, this has got to be my longest chapter yet… Question remains is, what is to become of Kairi now? And will Steve get away with disobeying Bellatrix… all the while make it back to his car without breaking something? And will Jim and Sora be able to find out Bellatrix's plan?**


	6. Chapter VI

**Once again, apologies for taking forever.**

***V***

Sora looked all around the castle that night until he found Kairi's room, seeing it was empty. He then went up to a servant, Hovis, for information. "Any idea where the princess is?" he asked.

"I've been told she went for a stroll into the woods." Hovis answered stoically.

_That's weird… why would Kairi take a walk if she wanted to meet with me? _Sora pondered, but figured what the reason was. "Can you show me where the queen is?"

"She's taking her evening bath."

"GAH! I wanted to know where she was, not get a traumatizing image implanted in my head!"

"Be happy you're not one of the many unfortunate ones who must give it to her." With a shudder, Hovis left.

_Okay… so getting answers from the queen is going to have to wait. I'd better find Jim and tell him what's going on. _Sora thought, then gagged. _…and find the castle's therapist…_

***V***

To save everyone the trauma, lets skip to AFTER Bellatrix's bath to the point where's she's clothed and preparing for bed. She was looking into a mirror and plucking her eyebrows when Steve entered, carrying a sack. "Did you get it done?" Bellatrix asked firmly.

"Y-Yes your highness," Steve answered.

"And her heart?"

"It's in the bag, along with her liver, lungs, and other…." Steve rifled through the bag, which was actually full of processed meat he got from the local butcher, accidentally pulling out some link sausage and stuffing it back in the bag. "…vital organs…"

Bellatrix didn't turn to look. "Good. With that brat out of my way, I can get the prince in my clutches. …You're excused, Urkel."

"Yes, ma'am…" Steve turned to leave.

"Take the bag, with. I don't want blood staining my furniture… unless I put it there myself."

"Right," Steve grabbed the bag and hurried out of the room, breathing a sigh of relief. He met up with Laura in the kitchen.

"Did she buy it?" Laura asked in a whisper.

"She didn't even look, but yeah, she thinks Kairi is dead, my sweet."

Laura sighed. "I hope she's alright… being out in the woods with the beast, who knows what might happen to her?"

"Oh, don't worry, my love. I'm sure Kairi's probably found the strongest, bravest, boldest, and kindest people to help her out. The woods aren't filled with too many freaks… are they?"

***V***

Kairi groaned, coming to, her blurry vision clearing…

The first thing she saw was that she was in a filthy cabin full of pizza boxes, a murky pool, oil stains, tuna cans, and dirty dishes and laundry everywhere.

The second thing she noticed was a Great Dane, watching her.

Beside him was a black and white cat, who seemed to be curled up and paying her no mind.

She looked over, seeing a great-white shark sitting on a chair.

Across the shark sat a werewolf with one fang, wearing a red cap.

Above her, to her surprise, floated a kooky looking phantom.

Beneath him stood a hairy caveman with a club.

She sat up, seeing she was lying in the backseat of a car… which happened to have eyes and could speak. "She's up! *sputter*" the car said.

"Ooh, ooh, *grr* it's about time! She almost slept the whole morning," the werewolf said.

"I figured she was dead- so much for having a late-girlfriend for late nights," the phantom joked.

"Where am I…?" Kairi asked, sitting up.

"The hideout of the Seven Meddlers, where else? *nyuck nyuck nyuck*" The shark answered, as if the question were obvious. "You pretty much collapsed in our front yard,"

"Are rou r'okay?" the Great Dane asked.

Kairi arched an eyebrow. "Um… I didn't get that. What?" she asked.

"*grr* He asked if you were okay." The werewolf answered. "Gosh, you really gave us a scare."

"We thought beast was going to get you," the caveman answered.

"Ah, that silly ol' beast doesn't come near here. It never passes that statue!" The phantom scoffed.

"We were outside having a snowball fight- it's fun in a blizzard because no one can see you… though, you can't see who you're hitting, either…" the shark began. "Anyway, we's happened to get a glimpse of something running, so we went to check it out,"

"Wasn't easy since we couldn't see a thing. Heck, we wouldn't have even found you if these two clowns hadn't sniffed you out," The phantom thumbed at the Great Dane and werewolf.

"Wasn't reasy since ry rose froze," the Great Dane said.

"*grr* Yeah, hard to smell anything with a frozen nose, *grr* really hard." The werewolf agreed.

"*sputter* What were you doing out in the woods, anyway?" The car asked.

"The queen ordered me to be killed, but one of the servants helped me escape."

"Why would queen want beautiful girl dead?" The caveman questioned.

"Maybe she was jealous," the phantom answered. "That woman's so ugly, she could scare a ghost back to life! I should know, it happened to me."

"Then how come you're still a ghost?" The shark asked.

"I looked at her again and got scared back to death." The phantom then chuckled at his own joke.

The cat looked out the window at the rising sun. "Meow!" he called.

"Looks like we're going to have to continue this conversation later, fellas." The shark said. "We've got work to get to!"

"*grr* Aw, but I want to stay with… um… say, what was your name, again?" The werewolf asked.

"Kairi," Kairi answered. "What are your names?"

The meddlers had begun walking out the door. "I'm Jabberjaw," the shark answered.

"I'm Speed Buggy," the car replied, going out a garage door.

"I'm Fangface," the werewolf answered, walking out with the Great Dane.

"I'm Scooby Doo," the Great Dane replied.

"Captain Caveman!" The caveman exclaimed, leaping out a window.

The cat sneered at Kairi and marched on, slamming the door on the phantom. "I'm the Funky Phantom, but you can call me 'Funky', and the sour-puss is named Sebastian," he replied. "Don't go away, we'll be right back!" he then ghosted through the door.

Kairi sat down on a chair, looking around the cabin. The meddlers had just saved her neck, and she thought of a way to show her gratitude…

***V***

**New Cameos:**

**-Hovis (Catscratch)**

**-Funky Phantom (Funky Phantom)**

**-Sebastian (Josie and the Pussycats)**

**-Captain Caveman (Captain Caveman)**

**-Fangface (Fangface)**

**-Scooby Doo (Scooby Doo, Where Are You!)**

**-Speed Buggy (Speed Buggy)**

**-Jabberjaw (Jabberjaw)**

***did I really have to mention what shows the meddlers came from? **


	7. Chapter VII

**Lets see what our meddling friends are up to, shall we?**

***VIII***

Steve and Laura stood with the rest of the servants to share the bad news. "Princess Kairi… is dead." Steve said sadly, earning a few gasps in return. "Gone before her time, it's such a tragedy, that one of God's most innocent creations had to leave us to join Him too soon-"

"Speed it up," Bellatrix hissed.

"Kairi lived, she died, God rest her soul, amen, breakfast will be served at 8." Laura said quickly.

Bellatrix grinned and left, Steve and Laura accompanying her. The rest of the servants gathered, confused. "Something's fishy, guys." Alan, Josie's boyfriend, whispered. "I think Bellatrix had something to do with Kairi's death."

"You THINK?" Mark, a black-haired boy, questioned.

"Alright, I KNOW she had something to do with it."

"Well, what are we going to do?" Tinker, a redheaded teenage boy, asked. "If we try to investigate, she'll punish us the way she punished the Mystery Inc. gang,"

"What did she do?" Aladdin, an Arabian boy, asked.

"Made them do ANOTHER live-action movie sequel,"

Everyone shuddered. "That woman is CRUEL!" Valerie, one of Josie's friends, commented.

"Well, we've got to do SOMETHING," Josie said.

"Lets try alerting the prince," Audrey, a South American girl wearing overalls and a hat, scoffed. "If we fill him in on what's going on, he can help us stop that witch."

"I say we try… for Kairi's sake at the most." Alan said.

***VIII***

The news of Kairi's death spread through the kingdom, increasing the despair in the village. Steve went to the tax collector to pick up the money Bellatrix ordered him to get. The tax collector, Mister Krabs, sat there. "Nooooo!" he cried, gripping the bag of money tightly. "You have to let me- I mean the town- keep the money! You can't just take it from the people when they've already got nothing… I'm not even THAT greedy!"

Steve sighed. "Queen's orders. I'm sorry… please try not to throw a fit this time- in respect for the princess." He said, taking the money.

Mister Krabs fell to the floor, crying and sucking his thumb.

Steve carried the money to his car and began driving down the road, crossing a bridge… when suddenly, as he looked out the window, he saw his engine suddenly float through the hood, flying away as if a pair of invisible hands were carrying it, and suddenly the car slid on the icy road, swerving in circles and crashing into a tree!

"Okay, I KNOW I didn't do that!" Steve stammered. He shrieked as the car doors were pulled open, and seven certain meddlers peered inside, wearing masks (despite anyone with a brain could easily tell who they were). "Augh! Who are you guys?!"

"The rieves rof the rorest," Scooby told him.

"Um… say that again?"

"The thieves of the forest," Funky said, appearing in front of Steve and making him yelp. "So, what's a nerd like you doing driving a classy prius?"

"O-Oh, no reason just… out for a drive…" Steve gulped.

"Yeah? What's in that sack?" Jabberjaw asked.

"Um… my lunch?"

"R'oh boy! I'm rarving!" Scooby exclaimed, grabbing the sack and looking inside, seeing all the money.

"Either you're on a cash-diet, or you just tried to pull a fast one on us," Funky said, slyly.

"N-Now wait a minute, fellas! You can't just take that money! It belongs to the queen-"

Fangface snarled at him.

Steve gulped. "Er… use it wisely."

***VIII***

After the raid, the meddlers went back home, congratulating each other for another job well done…Some of you may be wondering why, if these guys used to catch crooks, why were they suddenly stealing from others? Well… we'll get to that in a minute.

"Ooh, ooh, did you see the look on that kid's face when I snarled at him? *grr*" Fangface boasted.

"How about when Funky took the engine right out of his car?" Jabberjaw added.

"Or when Captain Caveman smashed car flat?" Captain Caveman said proudly.

The others stared at him. "Um, Cavey, you weren't told to do that…" Funky said, cringing.

Captain Caveman paused. "Whoops…"

Sebastian slapped his forehead.

"P-Poor car… *sputter*" Speed Buggy said, deciding to keep his distance from the caveman.

They made it back to their home- a small house that had been abandoned years ago- and walked inside, their jaws dropping at what they saw once they stepped through the door.

The house was spotless- all the garbage, rotted food, and oil stains gone (Jabber's pool had even been cleaned out and filled with crystal-clear water!); the beds were made; the laundry had been done; all the comic books, movies, CDs and mail had been organized; and a cozy little fire was burning bright in the fireplace.

What stunned them the most was the kitchen area. The table, which used to be full of dirty dishes and age-old leftovers and pizza boxes, now had warm soup, rolls, biscuits, roast, a crockpot full of oil (for Speedy), and buttered corn sitting on it, graciously prepared…

And standing beside the table was Kairi, who gave them a warm smile. "Welcome home," she said.

Scooby's jaw hit the floor, and he turned to the others. "Ran we reep her?" he begged.

"Look at all this food!" Jabberjaw exclaimed.

"*grr* Even if Pugs were around, I couldn't pass up a dinner like this!" Fangface added.

"I may be a ghost, but my appetite ain't dead yet!" Funky said.

"Food!" Captain Caveman shouted, and raced the others to the table.

"Gosh, Kairi, *sputter*, you didn't have to do all this," Speed Buggy said, helping himself to the oil in the crockpot, heated to perfection.

"Well, I owed it to you guys." Kairi said, shrugging. She walked over to the door, where she saw the bag of money on the ground.

"I say we give her a permanent residence." Funky said.

"If I had any idea what that meant, I'd agree." Jabberjaw replied. "And I'd let her stay forever, too."

"Where'd you guys get all this money?" Kairi asked them.

All the meddlers paused between bites, looking at one another. "Um… well… uh… we're thieves. Pass the corn, please!" Funky said quickly.

"You STOLE it?! From who?!"

"The queen! *grr* Not everyday we make a score like that," Fangface replied, and Sebastian nudged him.

"You broke into the castle?"

"No, we got it BEFORE it reached the castle," Jabberjaw corrected.

Kairi crossed her arms. "So you actually stole the _people's_ money. Guys, I don't know if you realize this, but the people are already as broke as it is. They NEED this money,"

Sebastian only scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"What's his problem?"

The meddlers all exchanged looks, and Captain Caveman bowed his head sadly. "People don't like us…" he said.

"Huh? Why would you think that?"

"A long time ago, the queen banned us from the village, saying all freaks were to be shunned." Funky said, sadly.

"Why would she do that? She's pretty much a freak herself."

"Because we were trying to help our friends escape," Jabberjaw answered.

"The queen made them her slaves, and when we tried to rescue them, she sicked the guards on us, *sputter*" Speed Buggy answered.

"She then made it clear that if anyone were to disobey her law, she'd have them executed, *grr* so no everyone kicked us out and wouldn't help us." Fangface added.

"After a while, we decided that if no one would help us, we'd help ourselves and fend for our survival," Funky said. "Just like that one kid in that one Disney movie!"

"Raladdin?" Scooby asked.

"Yeah, that one!"

"But… you guys don't look like the thieving type at all!" Kairi replied, stunned.

"Well, it actually took us a while to get used to it." Jabberjaw said. "We're kind of goof-balls, you know."

"You should have seen our first attempt- what a disaster," Funky added, shaking his head.

"I never knew there was such a thing as a 23rd degree burn…" Fangface said, cringing.

"We're lucky the pond hadn't frozen," Speed Buggy put in.

"Good thing we managed to outrun Old Man Jenkins, too…" Captain Caveman added.

"I rill rave rightmares!" Scooby gulped.

Sebastian looked over. "Reow!" he screeched, pointing at the door.

"What is it, Sebastian?" Funky asked, then looked over, gasping.

Kairi and the money was gone!

"She grabbed the money and made a break for it!" Jabberjaw cried out.

"Everyone, Plan XJ9! SB, you and SD take the west! Double F, Double C and Double J, you take the east! I'll cover the north with Sebastian!" Funky Phantom declared.

"Or we rould just rollow her racks." Scooby pointed out, seeing that Kairi left footprints in the snow.

"Or… we could do that! Lets go, guys!"

***VIII***

Kairi raced into town, running to the tax collector's office and throwing the sack in front of Mister Krabs. "MONEY! YOU'RE BACK!" he exclaimed, rainbows appearing behind him. They stepped outside, standing on a platform where people started to crowd. "Our money has been returned!"

The people cheered wildly, not noticing the meddlers coming through.

Mister Krabs turned to Kairi. "Tell us your name, we must know who returned this precious money back to me- I mean, its people!"

"Um… well…" Kairi began, then saw the meddlers in the crowd. "It was them!"

Everyone turned to the meddlers, who froze, standing still and smiling sheepishly.

"Yes, they returned the money. They heroically swiped it back before it could reach the queen, who told you to shun them. They helped you out, even though you didn't help them out in the beginning. They're the real heroes." She then began to applaud, as did the rest of the crowd.

The meddlers smiled, taking in the praise. "You know… I think I like that girl." Fangface said.

***VIII***

Jim and Sora sat in the dining room later that morning, having been invited by Bellatrix to join her for breakfast… the queen having the guards escorting/forcing them down and covering all the exits so they couldn't escape. "So, tell me more about your traveling, Prince Hawkins." Bellatrix said as sweetly as possible… which wasn't much. "What made you visit my humble kingdom?"

"Well, like I said before, our kingdom wishes to join together and form an alliance," Jim said, then added quietly, "That, and kicked us out and said we couldn't come back until we've matured a bit."

"Kicked out, did you say? Whatever for?"

"Oh, no reason!"

Sora scoffed. "No reason? What about that party we came home from last week? The king and queen said you were a total mess!"

Jim gave Sora a glare. "I was not… _you _were!"

"Oh yeah? Which one of us threw the parrot at a piggybank and shouted 'Angry Birds!'?"

Jim cleared his throat. "ANYWAY, your highness, despite our mishap- which was entirely YOUR fault, Sora-" Sora glared at him this time. "Our parents gave us the task of coming here to form a union."

Bellatrix smiled, pretending to act shy. "Well, it's funny you should mention that. You see, during the party last night- before chaos broke out- I was thinking about forming a union," she took Jim's hand, making him shudder.

"Princess Kairi had said the same thing," Sora said.

Bellatrix's grip tightened, and she looked at Sora. "What did she say?!"

"Something about the kingdom being in jeopardy,"

Bellatrix's grip tightened further, nearly cutting of Jim's blood circulation. "Um, can I have my hand back…?" he asked.

"Did she give any reasons WHY to support this idea?" Bellatrix asked, teeth clenching.

"Well… she said it had something to do with you, but she didn't tell me how." Sora finished.

Jim yelped as Bellatrix squeezed his hand until it turned purple. "Sora… help me out! Hand me a pry-bar!" Jim hissed.

Bellatrix began to fume, but relaxed, sighing and letting go of Jim's hand (which he dunked in ice water to help ease the pain). "I must apologize for Kairi's behavior. You see, she's been going through this rebellious stage, trying to run the kingdom on her own even, spending our money on new clothes and the latest accessories and running her cell phone bill up high… I knew one day she would go too far." Bellatrix sighed, dramatically.

Sora arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Bellatrix sniffled, feigning sorrow. "Well, last night I confronted her, telling her that she needs to grow up and learn to be a responsible young girl if she were to rule someday… she got mad and decided to run away… took off into the woods…" she covered her face with a napkin, pretending to sob. "I had the guards search for her, but it was too late… when they found her she was… she was… dead!"

"_Dead_?! But-but… how?!"

Bellatrix sighed heavily. "Oh, I didn't want to bring this up, but… this land was cursed a long time ago by a sorceress, who was jealous of the queen (that would be me). She unleashed a beast into the forest, claiming that if I didn't give up the throne, the beast would take away the one thing I treasured most. (sniffle) Well, I had her exiled, but the beast remained… now I guess the curse took its course. I lost my precious daughter! Oh, cruel fate, why must you torment the innocent?! Waaah! …would you like some more waffles, Prince Hawkins?"

Jim pushed his plate away. "No thanks… (that performance made me lose my appetite)." He muttered.

"Kairi can't be dead…" Sora whispered.

"Well, she is. The best you can do is scram and forget about her." Bellatrix turned to Jim, once again grabbing his hand (making his entire body tense). "Speaking of having a union, dear prince, I would be so grateful if you'd join me in holy-"

"-MOLY!" Steve cried, bursting through the door. "Pardon the intrusion, my queen, but we've got an emergency! The tax money has been stolen!"

"WHAT?! BY WHO?!"

"By… the Thieves of the Forest,"

Jim and Sora looked at each other. "Seven weirdoes, different species, one being a car?" Sora asked.

"Yes! …How did you know?"

"That's it! I say we put an end to this!" Jim shouted, standing up and grabbing Sora. "Lets go catch those thieves once and for all!" They ran past Steve, and he whispered, "Thanks for the save!" then ran out.

Bellatrix glared darkly at Steve. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you now." She said darkly.

"Um… I'm now working for free?" Steve gulped. Bellatrix still glared. "…I'm getting dipped in hot oil, aren't I?"

"Oh, BIG TIME…"

***VIII***

**I took the liberty of using a few more clips from "Mirror Mirror", though tried keeping them original.**

**Cameos:**

**Alan and Valerie (Josie and the Pussycats)**

**Mark and Tinker (Speed Buggy)**

**Audrey (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)**

**Aladdin (Aladdin)**

**Mister Krabs (Spongebob Squarepants)**


	8. Chapter VIII

**Here's the next chapter. Also, apologies in the roman-numerals typos the past two chapters. This is actually chapter 8 (VIII), just so no one gets confused.**

***VIII***

The meddlers sat outside later that night, talking about what Kairi had done for them that day. "I say we let her stay," Funky Phantom declared. "All in favor?"

"Aye!" Scooby-Doo, Jabberjaw, Fangface, Speed Buggy, and Captain Caveman exclaimed.

"Reow." Sebastian sneered.

"Ah, c'mon, Sebastian!" Jabberjaw scoffed. "You know she's a keeper, too!"

"Yeah, she got the people to stick by our side again!" Funky said.

"Rand she rooked rinner!" Scooby added.

"Plus, she needs a place to hide from that nasty queen, *grr*" Fangface put in.

Sebastian continued to pout. "Meowr."

"C'mon, Sab!" Speedy said.

"Pleeeeaaaaaaase?" They all begged.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, then finally nodded.

"HOORAY!"

They went inside, where they saw Kairi was cleaning up the table. "Alright, you can stay," Funky told her. "But we need to lay some ground rules, first."

"Like what?" Kairi asked.

"First… stay out of Scooby's snacks in the third cupboard to the left. If you touch them, you lose your next meal- and I don't mean skipping dinner, I mean that dog will eat your next meal as payback."

"Alright, don't touch the dog's food. Got it."

"Second, the action figures, trading cards, and comic books on the shelves are not to be touched. We like to keep our things in mint-condition,"

"Okay…"

"Third…"

_~4 hours later…~_

"Also, never, never, EVER tell ghost-stories that involve the spirit being the bad guy. I take high offense to that. Same with spooky stories about shark and werewolf attacks."

Kairi was sitting on a chair now, resting her face on her fist, trying to stay awake. "Is there (yawn) anything else I should know?" she asked.

"Just one more thing,"

Kairi sighed with relief. "Thank God,"

"Never let Fangface see a picture of the sun, or anything that would resemble a sun, during a life-or-death situation."

Kairi cocked her head. "Why is that a rule?"

"Yeah, why is that a rule?" Fangface asked, just as curious.

"Lets just say, the last time it happened, we needed him to fend off an angry moose…" Jabberjaw began, and cringed. "I'll just skip the details and say we weren't doing any thieving for the next six months,"

"Well, YOU guys didn't," Funky pointed out. "I was the one who had to go swipe a first-aid kit and a mechanic. …Not really one of the best heists we had that month."

Kairi scratched her head. "Have you guys had ANY good heists?" she asked.

"Well, we did good the past two days!" Jabberjaw pointed out. "We got that money, and some stuff from a couple passerby."

"Counting those two, we've had…" Funky began, then his shoulders slumped. "Two… good… heists."

"*sputter* Like we said, we're not good at being thieves," Speed Buggy said.

"Yeah, we're not Robin Hood or anything, *grr*." Fangface added.

"How long have you've been thieves, again?" Kairi asked.

"Two years… most of the time we spent trying NOT to goof up," Funky replied.

"We were basically the goof-balls in our gangs," Jabberjaw sighed. "Someone always had a plan for us to follow. Us… we just do our own thing and hope it works. Some days it goes well, other days we're lucky to get out alive."

Kairi rubbed her chin. "But, you've had the reputation of being the Thieves of the Forest. Surely you've done more than two good heists," she questioned.

"Well, by 'good' we meant money-wise." Funky said. "The way people secure their bonds these days, you hardly see anyone dumb enough to flash their cash."

"What did you normally steal, then?"

"Clothes," Captain Caveman answered.

"Movies," Jabberjaw added.

"Food." Scooby put in.

"Tools and spare parts," Speed Buggy added.

"Mostly anything to help us get by, *grr*," Fangface summed up.

"Just until we get to see our friends again," Funky added. "But with that queen in the way, it's hard for us to figure out anything."

Kairi leaned back, sighing out of sympathy. "I wish there was something I could do for you guys," she said, and the others hung their heads low.

"WAIT! I'VE GOT IT!" Jabberjaw shouted.

"You got an idea on how to see our friends again?" Fangface asked.

"No… I just found that quarter I lost last week!" Jabberjaw held up a quarter he found on the floor.

Sebastian slapped his forehead.

"Captain Caveman has idea!" Captain Caveman said. "Make Kairi leader!"

"Huh?" The others replied, stunned.

"What?" Kairi gasped.

"Make Kairi leader." Captain Caveman repeated. "She's nice, pretty, and smart. She helped us once, she can help again!"

"You know, the Neanderthal's got a point." Funky agreed, rubbing his chin. "Kairi DID get the people back on our side, and she's taken good care of our home,"

"I rink it's a rood ridea!" Scooby exclaimed.

"Me too!" Speedy agreed.

"Me three!" Jabberjaw added.

"Me four!" Fangface said with a nod.

"Reow…" Sebastian scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Really, guys, I-I don't know… I'm not much of a leader…" Kairi said, blushing.

"Hey, you're the best we've got." Funky assured her. "You've got more brains than the rest of us put together, and a heart twice as big. If you can figure out a way to make us good guys again, then you've got what it takes in leadership."

"Yeah, yeah, you've got what it takes/You should do it/Please, will you?/C'mon/Retty rease?" The others said all at once.

"Well, okay… but I'm not helping you guys steal from anyone," Kairi said, firmly.

"Deal. …So, what's our first order of business, boss?" Jabberjaw replied.

Kairi looked at the clock, yawning. "How about some sleep? It's getting late. We'll think up some plans tomorrow,"

"Good idea," Captain Caveman said with a yawn.

All the meddlers went to their own beds- Funky had a ghostly pillow poof up, and lied down hovering in the air; Sebastian curled up on the mantelpiece; Jabber slept on a bed underwater in his tank; Speedy had a parking space on the far side of the room, using some tarp as a blanket; Captain Caveman slept on one of the rafters on the ceiling; and Scooby and Fangface curled up in front of the fireplace.

Kairi lied down on the couch, looking out the window as snow began to gently fall. _Not the kind of lifestyle my father had planned for me… _she thought. _But until I reclaim his kingdom and set things back to order, it's as close to home as I've got._

***VIII***

**So Kairi's a leader now. Next up, Bellatrix cooks up a plan.**


	9. Chapter IX

**Alright, here's the next chapter, where we find out what Jim and Sora are up to…**

***IX***

Meanwhile that same night, Jim and Sora walked towards the woods in search for any evidence of Kairi's death. "It's too dark to go any further," Sora sighed, squinting in the darkness. If it wasn't for the moonlight reflecting off the snow, they would have been lost in the blackness of the night. "We should head back,"

"You can head back. I'd rather freeze out here," Jim scoffed. "There's no way I'm staying in a castle with a freaky woman who just tried putting the moves on me on the second day of our arrival."

"I think she's hiding something. In fact, I know it. Bellatrix is up to something, and I have a feeling Kairi's death was no accident due to rebelliousness- you and I are experts on that."

"Fine, but if she turns out to be a wild fan-girl, I'm out of here," They began walking, when something caught Jim's eye. "Hold it, over here,"

They walked over, seeing two sets of footsprints… one which clumsily kept running into trees… both going in different directions, and one that lead deeper into the forest, being left by a girl. They were almost hidden by the snow left from the blizzard last night, but were still barely visible.

"These must belong to Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, kneeling by the girl's footprints. "She's been through here… she might still be alive!"

"Whoever was with her did a bad job of heading back towards the castle," Jim commented, looking at the clumsy footsteps. "They must've been in a rush, from the looks of it… what could have scared them?"

A loud roar was then heard, not too far away.

Sora took out his keyblade, gripping it tight. "I think I could guess," he said.

"C'mon, we're heading back!" Jim told him, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him.

Sora gave him a look. "Really, Jim? You'd rather go back to Bellatrix than face some beast?"

"To tell the truth, both situations are the same, so it's a lose-lose situation."

"You can head back. I'm not leaving until I find Kairi."

"Sora. It's below zero out here. There's some manic creature loose… not to mention those thieves might still be out there! It's too dangerous!"

Sora looked at him again. "Seriously? You've ridden your solar-surfer through construction areas, hazardous valleys, performing stunts Tony Hawk himself wouldn't have enough guts to do, and you're telling me going out into the woods at night is dangerous? This coming from the same teenager who didn't care about whether he lived or not? Who always took risks? Who would stare Death in the face and make him blink? Who-"

"ALRIGHT! You've made your point! …But this isn't about ME, Sora. It's about you. What if something bad happened to you? I'd never be able to go back to our kingdom without the guilt weighing me down."

"What if something bad has happened to Kairi? I can't just walk away, now. I still believe she's alive out there."

Jim sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Let me keep looking until morning. If I'm not back by then, you can come get me, and we'll head out."

"What, like I'm just going to let YOU go out there on your own, facing some monster… while I go back to deal with the queen? There's no way I'm going to let you have all the fun,"

Sora grinned, and they started moving on. "Hold on," he took off his scarf and tied it around the tree. "This way we'll know which way we came,"

"Good thinking,"

They headed deeper into the forest, coming across a statue minutes later. The statue was covered in vines, and only the hands stuck out, as if it were reaching out for someone. Sora moved the vines away out of curiosity, seeing the statue was of a young, beautiful woman. "Jim… take a look at this,"

Jim walked up, arching an eyebrow. "It's just a statue… someone must've carved it out of some stone and left it out here,"

"Whoever did it must've worked on it for years. Look how smooth and flawless it is- no scratches, no roughs, no cracks… as if it were once alive. And that face…" he looked closer at it. "It looks so familiar…"

There was a deafening roar just then, and they spun around, seeing a large beast standing on a tree branch, the shadows hiding its features, but its eyes and fangs glistening in the moonlight.

"Uh, Sora?" Jim gulped.

"Yeah?" Sora whispered.

"Unless you can beat that thing with your keyblade, I suggest we RUN!"

The beast lunged and they dodged, Sora holding up his keyblade in defense, seeing the creature was chasing after Jim. "HEY! Leave him alone!" Sora ran after the beast, leaping into the air, ready to strike it-

*Wham!*

Accidentally hitting his head on a tree branch in mid-leap, falling to the ground and hitting his head on a rock, falling unconscious. The last thing he saw were stars, and a set of paws running after Jim's retreating feet in the distance.

***IX***

Jim kept running, nearly out of breath. "Sora! Hurry and use that keyblade!" he shouted, looking behind him.

He froze, realizing Sora wasn't with him. "Sora? Oh no…"

There was a menacing growl from above him, and he looked up-

"Oh, sh-"

***IX***

_It hated trespassers, and always lurked the forest searching for any, forced to remain within the trees, never to leave._

_It never went pass that statue, though. No. When it saw that stone-carved face, it was reminded of what it really was, and for a mere moment escaped its ravenous nature, and it would stare at it for the longest time, trying to recall where it had seen that face…_

_It had been only a day, and already someone was running through the forest that night again. He pursued the two boys, chasing after the prince when he and his servant had gotten too close to the statue, wanting to make sure they didn't try to steal it away. He had the prince alone now, as he leaped and pinned him down…_

"_Stop!" came a snap, and it came from a jewel that hung around its neck. "Don't you lay a claw on the prince, or your hide gets turned into a rug! Begone, return to the forest!"_

_The beast looked at the prince, snarling, then took off, leaving him lie in the snow, as a group of guards came running through the trees._

***IX***

**Seems like Sora and Jim are in a predicament… but who has it worse? And what could be the secret behind the beast? (if any of you already know, PLEASE no spoilers in the review).**


	10. Chapter X

**Alright guys, here's the next chapter. Sorry for taking so long on this, but I've been helping my sister babysit and have been getting side-tracked. Well, no more wait, here's the next chapter.**

***X***

Jim came to, his vision blurred a bit and he sat up, rubbing his head. "Ugh… what happened?" he asked.

"You were found unconscious out in the woods. The queen had sent her guards out looking for you late last night," One of the servants, a short muscular boy with dark hair and wearing a fedora, told him. "…I tried to tell 'em that you were better off in the snow, rather than back in Bellatrix's presence,"

Jim thought about it, recalling the previous night, when that beast attacked him and…

"Sora! Is he alright?" Jim gasped.

The servant shook his head. "No one found him," he answered. "…Then again, the queen didn't send anyone to search for him, claiming the beast probably murdified him and it was pointless."

"WHAT?!" Jim shot out of bed, hurrying to pull on his boots. "Is she insane?! She couldn't have just left him out there! What kind of psychotic witch is she?!"

"The evil kind, or have you not been paying attention to what the rest of us say about her?" Another servant, a girl with black hair with a white stripe running in the middle, sneered. "That woman is cold-hearted!"

"Yeah, she's so cruel she makes YOU look nice, Alexandra," The boy commented.

"Oh, shut up Pugs!"

"I can't believe this… does she realize what she's done?!" Jim hissed, pulling on his jacket and running out the door. "Doesn't she know who Sora is?!"

Pugsy and Alexandra looked at each other, then ran after Jim. "He's just a servant… and to Bellatrix, servants are disposable," Pugsy told him, then arched an eyebrow. "…He IS just a servant, ain't he?"

Jim sighed. "Not exactly. You see, he's really-"

"Prince Hawkins! There you are," came Bellatrix's voice, and they all froze dead in their tracks, seeing her walking down the corridor, Steve at her side… the nerd having 3rd degree burns all over his body. "I was wondering if you were doing well,"

He scowled. "I'm not! I want a search-party out in the woods to find Sora… and you'd better pray to God he's alright."

"Oh, do not worry. I still have some servants out there searching for him, come along." She began leading Jim away, then turned her head back and hissed at Pugsy and Alexandra, "Gather some losers and get searching!"

Alexandra scowled, crossing her arms. "You know, I never thought I'd find anyone I'd hate more than Josie until SHE turned up," she muttered.

"Yeah. C'mon, lets get the others and get searching," Pugsy sighed.

"What?! Why should we go out into those cold, creepy woods, where some BEAST is lurking, for that evil old witch?!"

Pugsy gave her a look. "Because it's the ONLY time we'll get out of this castle and AWAY from that OTHER beast,"

Alexandra thought about it. "Good point. Lets go."

*X*

"Left… left! LEFT! _LEEEFFFT!"_

***SPLOP!***

Kairi had swerved Speed Buggy into a snow-bank the third time that morning, trying to master a 'getaway'… only problem was that the road was too icy for any sharp turns. "Sorry, Speedy," she sighed, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "Are you okay?"

"*sputter* Rodger, dodger," Speed Buggy answered, a little dazed.

"No offense, Kairi… but maybe we should practice AFTER the roads thaw out," Jabberjaw suggested as he and Sebastian were buckled up tight, next to her, both of them a little dizzy.

"Meow-owr," Sebastian groaned in agreement.

"Well, I'm only 14, I'm not exactly the age requirement to earn a driver's license," Kairi replied, sternly.

"Hey, that's better than the rest of us- we never learned to drive!" Jabberjaw said.

"A-HEM." Speed Buggy sneered.

"Oh, yeah, besides Speed Buggy… but that's because he's a car, it comes naturally for him."

Kairi sighed, leaning back and looking up at the gray sky. "Maybe we should find something else for me to work on. I've still got another two years before I can drive, and it IS too icy out to be on the roads."

"We could try swimming lessons,"

Kairi chuckled. "I already know how to swim. Plus, the water is probably frozen,"

"Maybe you could try trapping," Speed Buggy suggested.

"I'm… not much for hunting animals."

"No, no, like setting up traps for bad guys!" Jabberjaw explained. "All you need is something to use as a net, some complicated design to set up that will cause the bad guys to walk right into it… and a couple of goofballs to lead said bad guy into the trap only to stumble into it themselves, set it off, and- in some comedic twist- still end up trapping the villain."

"You guys must be experts when it comes to trapping,"

"Well, some of us HAVE had experience several times. It's actually a recurring moment for us,"

Kairi chuckled, then climbed out of Speed Buggy. "Why don't we take a walk and think about some lessons you guys could give me? I'd like to take a walk through the forest anyway,"

"Alright. We should look for the others, too," Speed Buggy agreed. "It's almost time for lunch,"

They walked through the forest, and Sebastian grumbled bitterly at the feel of cold snow on his paws. "Here, Sebastian, let me carry you," Kairi said, picking him up.

"How come HE gets to be carried?" Jabberjaw asked.

"Well, he's a cat, and cats don't like water or snow. Plus it's pretty deep and he might sink or fall in a hole or something."

"Meah," Sebastian sneered at them, grinning afterward. He was beginning to like Kairi.

"Well you don't see either of us making a fuss about being in the snoooOOWHOA!" Jabberjaw had then tripped and fell into the snow. "…Until now, I guess, nyuck nyuck,"

"What'd you trip over?" Speed Buggy asked him.

"Ah, just some frozen kid someone left lying around…"

"FROZEN KID?!" They all cried out, then brushed away the snow covering the kid, and Kairi gasped.

"Sora! Oh my gosh…" Kairi exclaimed, sitting him up. "He's still breathing… C'mon, we've got to get him back to the cabin!"

"You know him?" Jabberjaw asked.

"He's a friend of mine. Hurry, lets go,"

They set Sora in the backseat, then drove back to the cabin. The rest of the meddlers came home and found them lying him on the couch by the fireplace, covering him in blankets, and Kairi told them all about how she met him. "So he knows the prince, and he might help us get rid of Bellatrix?" Fangface asked.

"Boy, he sure doesn't look like much of a servant… just look at that blade he's carrying!" Funky said. "He's more of a bodyguard, don't you think?"

"But if he's with prince, what's he doing out in woods?" Captain Caveman asked, scratching his head.

"Raybe he was rooking ror Rairi," Scooby guessed.

"Why would he be looking for me…?" Kairi questioned. "Bellatrix probably thinks I'm dead,"

"Unless she thinks you're alive, still, and sent out someone to look for you and kill you-" Funky said, then paused. "Hey! You understood what Scooby said?"

Kairi shrugged. "Well, yeah… after hanging around for the past couple days, I actually began to understand him."

"That's amazing! …Maybe you could be our multi-language-translator," Fangface suggested.

"Yeah, but what about what Funky said about the kid, here?" Jabberjaw said, eyeing Sora suspiciously. "What if he's been hired to come and kill Kairi… like in that old fairytale about the beautiful princess who has a wicked stepmother, who orders a huntsman to kill her but instead he lets her escape into the woods where she meets seven short guys who let her stay. …What was it called again?"

"Uh… Cinderella?" Speed Buggy guessed.

"No, that was the one with the glass slipper. …It was really Sleeping Beauty, right?" Fangface replied.

"Sleeping Beauty didn't have a wicked stepmother! Besides, that one was the one where the princess has to be a prisoner to a beast, but they end up falling in love and the beast turns out to be a prince," Funky corrected… sort of.

"No, no, no! That was Little Mermaid!" Captain Caveman scoffed.

"No, rit was reauty rand the reast. Rittle mermaid was rabout a mermaid who rell in rove with a rince," Scooby pointed out.

"Oh, yeah, and the only way she could marry him was to trade the family cow for three blind mice…" Jabberjaw said.

"…who grew into giants," Funky added.

"… and they had to get a pied piper to lure them over the river and through the woods to grandma's house," Fangface put in.

"…before midnight when they change into three little pigs!" Captain Caveman finished.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

Kairi arched an eyebrow. "You guys sure know your fairytales…" she said sarcastically.

"But what was that other fairytale called?!" Jabberjaw thought, growing irritated. "All I can remember is that the princess had snow-white skin and hung out with seven dwarves…"

"I've got it! Thumbelina!" Fangface exclaimed.

Sebastian slapped his forehead.

"No, no, that's not it…" Jabberjaw sighed. "Oh, well, I'll think of it later."

"Right, back to visitor matters," Funky said, turning to Sora. "I say we bring this boy into questioning as soon as he wakes up!"

"I don't think Sora was sent out to kill me, guys." Kairi told them, sitting beside Sora, brushing a strand of hair out of his face. "Maybe… he came out looking for me, because…"

"Because…?" The others pressed.

She shook her head. "I don't know. We'll ask him when he comes to,"

"Comes to what?" Captain Caveman asked.

***X***

Back in Bellatrix's castle, Crysta and Batty were trying to break out of the crystal ball, but with no prevail. "Oh, why did fairies only have to know how to play music, grow flowers, and shrink people?!" Batty whined. "Why couldn't they have learned how to break glass instead?!"

"I'm trying, Batty, now please quiet down!" Crysta snapped, pressing her hands against the crystal and they began to glow, but the force around the crystal zapped her back. "Ow! …Oh, it's no use. Bellatrix's magic is too strong,"

"Darn it!" Batty snapped, having a meltdown. "I can't stand it in here anymore! I'm losing my mind!"

"Batty, calm down!"

"How can I calm down?! Kairi's probably dead, Bellatrix is trying to win over the prince, and we're stuck here in this stupid glass ball!" he kicked the glass hard…

Making it roll off the pedestal and shatter, freeing them both.

"Huh. We should have thought of that sooner. Lets get out of here!"

Crysta held him back before he could fly off. "Not until we stop Bellatrix," she said, then floated over to the mirror. "Mirror mirror…"

"Oh, what is it now…?" Poindexter groaned, then saw it was Crysta. "Whoa! How'd you get out?"

"We need to know what Bellatrix is up to, please!"

"Haven't you figured it out?" Poindexter's image swirled into that of Bellatrix sitting at the dinner table with Jim, the witch holding a vial in her hand underneath the table. "She plans on giving the prince a love-potion to make him fall in love with her and marry her, just like what she did to the original king,"

"That's terrible! Oh, if only Kairi were still alive…"

"Oh, she is…" the image shifted to a scene of Kairi with the seven meddlers. "She's hiding in the woods with a group of weirdoes."

Crysta became ecstatic. "Oh, that's fantastic!" She then gasped. "I've got to warn her about Bellatrix's scheme! C'mon, Batty!" With that, they shot out the window, heading into the forest.

Poindexter grinned. "And those jocks back in school thought being a squealer would get me nowhere!" he then paused. "…I just hope Bellatrix doesn't find out,"

***X***

**So Kairi and the seven meddlers have found Sora, Jim's still trapped with Bellatrix, Crysta and Batty are back in the story, and Jabberjaw just brought up some irony. What's next? We shall soon find out.**


	11. Chapter XI

**Onward to the next chapter!**

***XI***

Bellatrix and Jim sat in the dining hall alone… and basically everyone felt sorry for the teen and were praying he'd make it out alive, with his sanity still in place. Jim, still angered at the fact that Bellatrix had left Sora for dead, hardly ate his food, lost in deep, dark thoughts. _I don't care what the kingdom says, there is NO WAY I'm going to let a union be formed with this witch. _He thought bitterly. _I'd rather go back and get my head cut off than stay another day with her-_

"Don't worry about your friend, Prince Hawkins, I'm sure he's alright," Bellatrix said, feigning sweetness. "I've sent all my servants out to look for him,"

"Gee, how grateful of you," Jim sneered, picking at his food.

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Nah… Only the fact that you sent your servants, rather than your guards, out into the jaws of that beast- but hey, I suppose you find the guards more useful and less disposable, right?"

Bellatrix's smile began to twitch into a scowl. "I don't know what you mean… who says I thought of my servants as disposable? I only sent them out there because they know the woods better than anyone I know-"

"Your servants know the woods better than your guards. Maybe THEY should be the ones protecting the castle if they know more."

"Oy! We resent that!" Came a snap from one of the guards, who had an English accent, both of them having flowers and ribbons tied to their helmets (it's best not to wonder). "I'll have you know that we've been on-guard at this castle since 1988, and not one tragedy has fallen on the land!"

"That's right. (hic)" Said the other guard, who had a bad case of the hiccups.

"Oh? Then why weren't you sent out to find Sora?" Jim questioned.

The two guards looked at each other. "The queen didn't ask us to." The first one replied, while the other hiccupped again.

Jim turned and glared at Bellatrix. "Well, there IS an explanation, Prince Hawkins- my servants are traitors." She said, quickly.

"Really?" Jim questioned, deadpanned.

"Yes, I overheard them threatening to start an up-rise and take the kingdom for themselves."

Jim rolled his eyes. "I can't imagine why…"

"That is why I sent them out, and if any come back alive, they'll face death for treason-"

Jim slammed his fist on the table. "Is that how you run things around here?! Shoving someone into the arms of death every time they speak against you?! That's probably what you did to Kairi, right?! She sneaks down to a dance for a few minutes, and you get the feeling you have to send her out to be killed for having a little fun, right?!"

Bellatrix glared. "I don't like these accusations, Hawkins. Whatever you heard from whoever is nothing but filth and lies, rumors and stories created to spread libel amongst my followers to have me removed from the throne…"

"From the way the kingdom is looking, I'd say they've got the right impression."

Bellatrix scowled. "I'm starting to see why YOU were kicked out of your kingdom. I'd prefer it that we discuss this after dinner in private…" she handed him a glass of wine.

"I've lost my appetite,"

"Take it as a peace-offering. Perhaps we can settle this maturely,"

Jim sneered, taking the wine. "If there's anything TO settle…" he then took a sip-

*Thud!*

…and fell onto the floor, unconscious.

Bellatrix snickered giddily, rubbing her hands together. "In a few seconds, the prince will awaken, and when he does, he'll be desperately in love with me!"

"Poor sap." The first guard said. "Of course, that's how any woman does it nowadays- get a fellow drunk, slip into bed with him, then make the demand for marriage, conning the bloke into thinking she's pregnant with his child and owes it to her-"

"I thought it worked the other way around (hic)" The second guard replied.

"It does not, don't be silly!"

"(hic) Oh yeah? How's come?"

The first guard gave him a look. "How could a _man_ become pregnant?"

"Haven't you've ever seen 'Junior'?"

"QUIET YOU TWITS!" Bellatrix snapped, leaning over and looking at Jim. "Just a few more seconds, and he'll be awake, and I'll be rich again!"

They looked at Jim, waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting.

And waiting…..

And WAITING….

After a full minute, Bellatrix began to grow impatient. "WHY ISN'T HE WAKING UP?!" she yelled.

"Perhaps he didn't get enough sleep last night?" one of the guards suggested.

"I'll handle this… KRONK!"

Her voice echoed through the castle, and soon a tall, muscular man wearing a chef hat and apron ran in- it was Kronk, the cook. "You bellowed, your highness?" he asked.

Bellatrix looked at him, seething and holding up the vial that held the potion she had given Jim. "Is this the 'Love Potion' I asked you to retrieve from the lab?"

"Of course! From the second cabinet, fifth shelf, third to the left, where you keep ALL your love-potions!"

Bellatrix stared, then slapped her forehead. "I said THIRD cabinet, SECOND shelf, FIFTH to the right, you buffoon!"

Kronk paused, thinking about it. "Oh… that makes sense. …So, what did I grab?"

"You fool… you grabbed the 'Sleeping Death' potion! He'll remain asleep forever unless we do something! Come on!" Bellatrix stormed out, then turned to the guards. "Stay here and make sure he doesn't leave!"

"Right!" The guards said together, and began to follow her out!

"I said STAY HERE!"

"We thought you meant for HIM to stay here," The first guard said, while the other hiccupped.

"I told YOU to stay and watch him!"

"Alright," The first guard stood there, and the other began to follow her out.

"What are you doing?!"

"Well, you said I had to stand watch, and then he could go," The second guard hiccupped again.

"I meant BOTH of you!"

The guards gave her a confused look. "Which is it? Do you want us to stay, come with you, or one of us stay while the other-"

"Both of you stay IN THIS ROOM, keep an eye on the prince, and make sure nothing happens to him!" The second guard unleashed another hiccup, and Bellatrix turned to him. "Oh, drink some water already!" With that, she stormed out, dragging Kronk with her.

"…You know, I read somewhere that male seahorses give birth-" The second guard began to say.

"Oh, drop it already!" The first sneered… then hiccupped. "Oh no…"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

**Well, looks like Bellatrix's plan backfired (yay!). Next chapter, a rescue mission is a-must.**

**New Cameos:**

**-Guards (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)**

**-Kronk (The Emperor's New Groove)**


	12. Chapter XII

**Alright, guys, I'm sort of lacking inspiration, but I'm giving it my all here. Read and enjoy!**

***XII***

Afternoon was approaching slowly, as the meddlers boredly sat around, waiting for Sora to wake up. It had been hours since they had found him, and despite they were keeping him warm by the fire, had him tucked tight in blankets, and a heating-bottle on his head, he still seemed cold. "I'm going to make some soup," Kairi whispered, standing up at last. "It'll help warm him up when he awakes,"

"*grr* I haven't seen him this unconscious since _Dream Drop Distance," _Fangface said, playing checkers with Sebastian… who switched a few pieces while the werewolf wasn't looking.

Kairi went into the kitchen, leaving the other meddlers to keep an eye on Sora… which actually turned out to be a mistake (you'll see in a moment).

"You know… this kid looks familiar, other than the fact that he comes from that game Fangface just gave a reference to," Jabberjaw stated.

"Yeah, but why?" Funky questioned, rubbing his chin.

"Well, who else do you think this story is sponsoring? *nyuck nyuck nyuck*"

Funky rolled his eyes. "I meant, why does he look so familiar?"

"Maybe we owe him money?" Fangface guessed.

"Nah, that's not it…"

"Raybe we raw him rin rown?" Scooby suggested.

"Nope, that ain't it, either…"

"Meow meow meow?" Sebastian spoke up.

"Robbed him? Us? What makes you say that?"

Sebastian held up Sora's key-blade. "*sputter* Hey, I've seen that somewhere before," Speed Buggy said.

"Same here. Boy had it during raid…" Captain Caveman added.

Funky grabbed the key-blade. "Say… you're right. This IS the kid we stole from a couple days ago!" he exclaimed.

By this time, Sora began to wake up, his eyes slowly focusing out of a blur.

"…You think he'd recognize us?" Jabberjaw asked.

"YAH!" Sora cried out, getting a good look at the meddlers. "Not YOU guys again!"

"I think that's a 'yes', *sputter*" Speed Buggy replied.

Sora got to his feet, summoning his key-blade back. "How did I get here?! What do you guys want with me?! Where's Jim?!"

"Who?" The meddlers asked.

"Jim Hawkins! My friend?!"

"Teenage boy, blue eyes, has a solar-surfer, often a target for slash-fics?" Jabberjaw asked.

"Yes!"

"Never heard of him."

Sora gripped the blade, glowering. "What did you guys do to him?! You probably sent that beast after us, didn't you?"

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Calm down, kid! We might've robbed you guys, but we wouldn't leave you to the beast! We're just as afraid of him as you are!" Funky exclaimed, then turned toward the reader. "And that's saying something, coming from a ghost."

"We only found you…" Speed Buggy began to say.

"…and thought about making some cash and holding me for ransom, right?!" Sora snapped.

"Easy, boy, we're not THAT clever! *grr*" Fangface said.

"We were rust trying ro relp," Scooby told Sora.

"I'm sure." Sora sneered, not convinced, and his key-blade began to pulse with light. "Tell me what you're planning, otherwise I'm going to blast you into next week!"

"Yeow!" The meddlers cried, ducking and hiding.

*Pow!* Sora zapped away the couch they hid behind.

"Yipe!" they cried, hiding behind a chair, but Sora levitated it, seeing the meddlers scrunched together to fit its shape. "Whoa!" They ran to a lamp-post, but Sora knocked it out of the way. "Yikes!" They then ran and hid under a rug, but Sora whipped it off. "Gah!" They then began to run all over the room, Sora blasting at them with his key-blade until they came to a corner.

"This is why we don't invite house-guests over!" Captain Caveman gulped.

Sora stood in front of them. "Now give me some answers, otherwise-" he began to threaten.

"What is going ON in here?!" came a shout, and everyone looked to see a very miffed off Kairi.

Sora smiled. "Kairi! Thank God! Quick, make a run for it, while I hold off these bandits!"

"You mean my FRIENDS?"

He paused. "…Friends?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're her friends!" Fangface exclaimed.

"Should've mentioned that sooner and saved the sabotage," Funky said.

Sora put away his key-blade, running up to Kairi. "How do you know these guys…?" he asked.

"They saved me when Bellatrix sent me out to be killed," Kairi answered. "They let me stay here until we could find a way to stop her,"

Sora clenched his fists. "I KNEW that witch was up to something! I knew it was no accident that you went missing."

"Is… that why you came out here?"

"Yeah, Jim and I figured you were still alive, and came out looking for-" Sora froze. "JIM! He's still out there!"

"What?"

"Last night, we were following your foot-prints, when some beast came after us! I tried going after it, but hit my head and fell unconscious,"

"Well, c'mon! There could be a chance that he's still alive," Kairi turned to the meddlers. "C'mon, lets go out and search for him,"

"Anything for a friend of Kairi's," Speedy said.

"Thanks guys, I owe it to you *atchoo!*" Sora replied, sneezing.

"Maybe we should go look for him. You've still got a chill to get over," Kairi suggested.

"I'm fine! I can search!"

Kairi sat him down in a chair. "Rest. We'll bring him back, don't worry." She turned to Scooby, Sebastian, and Captain Caveman. "You guys stay here with him,"

"Rure thing, Rairi." Scooby replied with a salute.

With that, Kairi and the other four meddlers walked out to search for Jim. Sora turned to the other three meddlers. "Uh… sorry about wrecking your house," he apologized.

"Aw, don't worry." Captain Caveman said, waving. "We wrecked it worse before,"

*XII*

**Yet another short chapter… but next chapter, things get plenty interesting ;)**


	13. Chapter XIII

**Got a short amount of free time, so here's the new chapter!**

**Warning: Contains something… unexpected…**

***XIII***

Kairi, Funky, Jabberjaw, Fangface, and Captain Caveman walked through the forest, in search for Jim, so far having no luck after one hour. The sky was turning a dark gray, meaning that it was nearly time for another freak snow-storm, giving them little time to find a trace. Luckily, up ahead, they saw a scarf tied to a tree, the same scarf Sora had been wearing when Kairi first met him. "They came from somewhere in this direction," she guessed, then turned to Fangface. "Do you think you could track Jim's scent?"

"*grr* I'll try, Kairi, I'll try," Fangface replied, getting on all fours and sniffing through the snow. "Ooh, ooh, I can't get a trace, the last snow-fall covered it…" he paused then, his ears perking up and his tail sticking up. "Hey! I got something!" he then bolted through the snow.

"Hey, wait for us!" Jabberjaw called, and they ran after him.

The werewolf zig-zagged through the trees, leaped over logs, ricocheted off boulders, and slid across a frozen creek, the others racing to keep up. Finally, he leaped over a bush, howling…

*WHAM!*

"OOF!" came a grunt, and the others looked over, seeing that Fangface had tackled someone. "Get off me, you over-grown nitwolf!" they shouted, pushing him off… then shook their head, staring at him in surprise. "Fangface?"

"Pugsy!" Fangface exclaimed.

"Funky?" Another teen cried out.

"Mudsy!" Funky exclaimed, and a small ghost cat appeared in front of him. "Boo! I was wondering where you've been!"

"Clamhead! Shelly!" Jabberjaw gasped.

"Jabber!" Clamhead exclaimed.

"Captain Caveman?" Three lovely girls squealed.

"Taffy! Dee Dee! Brenda!" Captain Caveman shouted with glee.

Kairi looked, seeing that several teens ran up to her friends, no doubt being the friends the meddlers had been separated from. It wasn't long before one of them recognized her as well. "K-Kairi?" Alexander (Alexandra's brother) gasped. "You're alive?" he turned to the others. "GUYS! LOOK! Princess Kairi is still ALIVE!"

"Yeah… your friends here found me in the woods and helped me out," Kairi told them.

"Where are the rest of them?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, where's my cat?!" Alexandra demanded.

"They're back at the cabin with Sora," Funky answered.

"Like, hey! We were sent out here to look for Sora! Jim was real worried about him," Shaggy spoke up.

"What a coincidence! We came out here looking for Jim because Sora was worried! *nyuck nyuck*" Jabberjaw told them.

"Jim's back at the castle, and from what I heard, Bellatrix is still trying to win him over… with no prevail, thank God." Alan said.

"We'd better go get Sora, and then maybe he can leave before Bellatrix tries anything," Freddy suggested.

"Yeah, we can bring Kairi back, too, and she can help us prove how evil Bellatrix is!" Kim exclaimed.

"…Did we _need_ any proof?" Shelly sneered.

"C'mon, lets hurry, before we're too late," Biff 1 (_from Jabberjaw_) said.

"Too late!" came a cry, and Batty and Crysta flew towards them.

"Kairi! Oh, thank goodness you're alright!" Crysta gasped, landing on her shoulder.

"Crysta! How'd you escape?" Kairi asked.

"No time to explain! Bellatrix just tried drugging the prince, but put him in a coma instead!" Batty said, panicking. "He's asleep in a chamber in one of the high towers, and Bellatrix is looking for an antidote even as we speak!"

"Once he wakes up, she's going to force him to marry her!" Crysta added.

"*hurk* I think I just threw up in my mouth, a little…" Mudsy commented.

"What should we do?" Josie asked.

All the meddlers began talking at once, trying to come up with a plan, while Kairi tried to think. _Jim's asleep in one of the high towers… that's where dad used to take me before he disappeared, telling me it was the only place where mom could get some privacy… and it's where Bellatrix used to lock me up every time I disobeyed her as a child. _She thought. _It was my only punishment until she started keeping me in my room, because…_

"I have an idea!" she cried out, getting everyone's attention. "Guys, there's a secret passage that leads up to the towers, it goes through the kitchens. We can sneak up and get Jim, before Bellatrix tries anything else!"

"But how are we going to get through? The place is surrounded by guards- they catch sight of any of you, and it's curtains!" Mark pointed out.

Kairi smirked. "Don't worry, that's part of the plan,"

All the cowards gulped.

*XIII*

Two guards stood watch outside near the kitchen, walking along until a snowball hit one of them in the face. They looked over, seeing Fangface and Captain Caveman standing off to the side, both making faces. "Nyah nyah! Try to catch us, slowpokes!" Captain Caveman teased.

The two guards ran after them… not noticing Kairi and the others sneak into the kitchen, going through a secret passage behind the pantry, walking down a dark corridor, stopping when they saw three different tunnels. Fangface and Captain Caveman ran in, catching up to them. "*grr* We'd better hurry, those guards don't take a liking to snowball fights!" Fangface said.

"Funky, Jabberjaw, you and your gangs take the tunnel to the left; Fangface, your gang and Speed Buggy's take the right; The rest of us will take the middle." Kairi ordered. "Crysta, Batty, you guys keep watch for Bellatrix, try to stall her any way you can. Lets move!"

Everyone split up, racing down the halls.

The tunnel to the left lead to the gardens, where Jabberjaw stuck his head out of a fountain's dolphin-shaped spout. "Whoops, wrong turn," he said.

Funky's head popped out a flower-plant, scaring the gardener who sat in front of it. "Sheesh, what's with that guy? He acts like he saw a ghost!" he commented, and he and Jabberjaw when back into the passage.

The tunnel to the right lead up to one of the bathrooms. Tinker opened up the shower curtains, looking around. "No one in here, guess we've got the wrong room Fangface… Fangface?" he said, looking around. There was a gurgling sound, and he lifted the toilet lid.

Fangface popped out, breathing for air. "He's definitely not in here…" he sputtered.

"C'mon, lets get back to the tunnels," Tinker flushed the werewolf back down the toilet, then closed the shower curtains.

*XIII*

Meanwhile, Bellatrix stood in the lab with Steve at her side, looking through a spell-book. Batty and Crysta flew in, hiding inside a skull that sat upon a shelf. "Here it is!" Bellatrix said, running her finger along a line. "'In order to break the sleeping death spell, the victim must share the first kiss of one with royal blood,'. All I have to do is kiss him, and then he'll be mine!"

"Eeeeeeeeewwww…" Crysta and Batty whispered together.

"Um, your highness, there's a problem with that…" Steve said. "First of all, you're not exactly 'royal blood', since you were a commoner before you married the king. Second, I'm pretty sure every single Jim fan-girl will storm the castle and beat you senseless if you stole his first kiss. And finally… you've been kissed before."

"It's still worth a try! Now come on!" Bellatrix sneered.

Crysta used her magic to make the moss growing on the ceiling increase in size, having it ooze onto Bellatrix's head. Some of it got on the floor and Steve slipped on it, falling onto a table full of beakers, sending them flying all over, breaking and making colorful smoke fill the room. When it cleared, Bellatrix's hair was pink, and Steve had turned into Stefan (his hansom, suave, anti-nerdy ego). "Say… what was that all about?" Stefan asked.

Bellatrix looked around. "Someone in this room decided to pull a prank," she growled, looking around.

Stefan rubbed his chin, looking up at the moss. "Maybe you should have had Kronk clean up this lab before coming down here," he then looked in a mirror. "…Then again, this ain't too bad."

Bellatrix rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up and fix this mess, otherwise I'll call in _your_ fan-girls!" she then used her wand to fix her hair, then left.

Batty and Crysta secretly followed. Crysta made a vase of flowers grow into a flowery vine, tripping Bellatrix, and they flew down the hall out of sight.

*XIII*

It was the tunnel in the middle that lead to the tower, and Kairi peeked out from beneath a tile in the floor, seeing Jim asleep in his bed… and the two guards standing by the door. "Oy, who's there?" one of them asked, lifting up the tile.

"Um… me?" Kairi said, quietly.

"Princess Kairi! …Wait a minute, aren't you supposed to be dead?"

The other guard rubbed his chin. "There's an obvious explanation for this…" he said. "She's a ghost."

"A ghost?" The first guard looked at his partner. "If she were a ghost, why would she be hiding in a secret passage?"

"Ghosts hide in secret passages all the time! Haven't you've seen those movies? It's how they haunt,"

"Ghosts haunt by turning invisible and throwing things, and speaking in spooky tones like this: ~_woo-ooo-ooo, beware my ghostliness…!~ _They don't just appear… and even if they did, they'd be transparent and white with rotting flesh, not looking like cute little girls,"

"Not all ghosts are the same, anyone from the Fenton family could tell you that!"

"Oh? Then why is there a caveman with her, then? I suppose Neanderthal spirits are lurking about too, eh?"

"It could be!"

"Don't be silly. In order to become a ghost, a spirit must have a subconscious mind in order to help it be- cavemen don't have enough wits to do that,"

"Do too!" Captain Caveman snapped, offended.

"Ha! See?" The second guard exclaimed.

"I still find it highly illogical that a ghost could look lively and just use a secret passage- if it had to enter a room, it could just walk through the wall!" The first guard argued.

By this time, the others met up, and Funky Phantom appeared behind the guards. "You mean like this?" he asked, smirking.

"Yeah!" The first guard looked at his comrade. "See? That's what ghosts really look like!"

Both guards paused, then looked at Funky, who gave a small wave.

"GHOST!" They both screamed, then fled the room.

"C'mon, lets get Jim and get out of here!" Pugsy said.

Kairi got out first, running over to Jim… pausing, seeing something on the wall. Her keyblade, which her father left for her! "I wondered where I left this," she said, grabbing it. "I'd better take it, just in case. Grab the prince!"

The meddlers grabbed Jim, then ran back through the passage and into the kitchen, out of the castle. Batty and Crysta saw them leaving and flew out a window, following them into the woods.

Bellatrix entered the tower by this time, and when she noticed Jim was gone… well, hell hath no fury to match hers… "_**WHERE'S MY PRINCE?!" **_She shouted loud enough to make the castle shake.

*XIII*

Once back at the cabin, Scooby, Sebastian, and Speed Buggy ran up to their friends, excited to see them, while Crysta told Kairi about the solution to breaking Jim's curse. "In order to wake him, someone out of royalty must share their first kiss with him," the fairy said.

"Gee, I wonder who it could be?" Alexandra said, sarcastically.

"I'LL DO IT!" came an excited squeal, and a random girl popped up out of nowhere, followed by a billion others.

"No, I'll do it!/I will!/Me! I can do it!/No, pick me!" the rest were yapping.

"Darn it, how'd the fan-girls find us?!" Pugsy demanded.

"Jim-senses," Biff 2 (_from Fangface_) muttered.

"BACK OFF, YOU HYPERACTIVE HAIR-BRAINS! KAIRI'S GOING TO DO IT!" Shelly bellowed.

"Awwwww…." All of Jim's fan-girls whined.

Suddenly, a bunch more girls popped up. "Does this mean Sora's free?" one of them asked.

"Dear Lord…" Alexandra muttered, covering her face.

"I need to kiss him?" Kairi questioned.

"Well, it makes sense. You've never been kissed, you're a princess… You're Jim's only chance to wake up," Velma told her.

Kairi sighed. "Well… if it'll help get the prince on our side…" she walked over to Jim.

Sora walked out, stretching. "What a nap… hey, what's going on?" he asked, seeing everyone standing around.

"Oh, Kairi's about to kiss the prince, that's all." Clamhead said with a shrug.

"What?" Sora turned, seeing Kairi leaning toward Jim, and ran over. "Kairi, wait! He's not- WHOA!"

Sora had slipped on a fallen icicle, and Kairi gasped, dodging him… and he fell on Jim… his lips landing on his… accidentally kissing him.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" All the Jim and Sora fan-girls squealed, and exploded in a shower of nose-bleeds.

Jim woke up, and he and Sora stared in shock at each other. "What… the… HECK ARE YOU _DOING_?!" Jim shouted, shoving Sora off of him, spitting and wiping his mouth.

"Don't *ptooie* yell at me! I was just trying to stop Kairi!" Sora shouted.

"By kissing me?!"

"It was an accident, I slipped!"

"…no matter what you call it, the fan-girls just lost a lot of blood through their nostrils," Batty pointed out.

"Wait a minute! I thought only royalty could break the spell! How could Sora have broken it?" Jabberjaw questioned.

"Well, here's the thing," Sora said, wiping his mouth. "Jim's… not the prince. I am."

*XIII*

**Some way to get the truth out, isn't it? Next chapter- Bellatrix seeks revenge.**

…**Need I mention which each meddler's cameo comes from?**


	14. Chapter XIV

**Well, everyone, inspiration has struck, and I've decided I should finish up this story before I update my other stories, rather than keeping it on hiatus. So here you go!**

***XIV***

Everyone stared at Sora, shocked and confused. "You're the prince?! Why didn't you say so, before?" Kairi asked, while the meddlers swept away all the passed-out fan-girls.

"Well, it's a long story… starting with why Jim and I got kicked out of the castle-" Sora began to explain.

"Hold it. You were KICKED-OUT of your castle?" Daphne questioned. "I thought you came here to make a union!"

"That's HALF of it…" Jim admitted, then began to rinse his mouth out with mouthwash.

"Here's what happened…" Sora began.

_~Flashback Time! Yaaaaay!~_

We get a view of Sora's kingdom, a week prior to his and Jim's arrival to Kairi's castle. Standing before them was Kyouya Ootori, Sora's uncle and guardian. The original king had stepped down from his position, and since his queen had passed away (wow that's happening to a lot of royal parents, isn't it?) and Sora was an heir to the throne, he left the position to Kyouya, the only other living relative coming from a noble bloodline, to take care of Sora and teach him how to rule… then immediately hit the tropics, sending a postcard once in a while.

(Kyouya didn't have the heart to tell Sora that his father just didn't want to raise a kid- thus why we decided NOT to mention his name).

Anywho, Kyouya had been looking after Sora since he was a little child of 3, trying to teach him how to rule a kingdom. Problem was, due to hanging around Jim far too long (who was working as a servant to help pay bills to his mother's Inn), the prince wanted to have fun rather than learn lessons, and had skipped a few to run off to have fun- only to cause trouble.

And Kyouya was sick of it. "Sora, your behavior over the past 4 years is inexcusable," he said, sternly. "So far this month I've received news about you having your friends, Ven and Roxas, pose as you so you could skip classes; A call from Sarah Hawkins about you and Jim crashing your solar-surfers into each other; and finally, after attending a late-night party at the Roxbury, Jim grabbing Iago and throwing him at a piggybank shouting 'Angry Birds'! Have you any sense of responsibility left in your head?!"

Sora cringed. "I'm sorry, Uncle Kyouya. We weren't hurting anybody, we were just-" he tried to say, but the piercing glare from his uncle told him it would be wise not to make excuses.

"It's all my fault, your majesty," Jim spoke up. "I kept dragging Sora into it-"

"You're lucky I haven't fired you, Hawkins," Kyouya said, sharply. "Apparently, you don't exactly know how important it is for Sora to be a prince, let alone a few short years before his coronation to become king. Your time with him is causing nothing but a distraction to his lessons, and something must be done about it."

"W-Wait, are you saying Jim and I can't see each other, anymore?" Sora gasped, from the way his uncle was talking.

"I'm not going to get executed, am I?" Jim gulped, from the way Kyouya was talking.

Light reflected off Kyouya's glasses, giving him a startling expression. "No… I suppose both would be 'too' cruel of punishments. Instead, since you both are so close… you'll both be exiled from the kingdom for the rest of your days," he answered.

"WHAT?" Sora and Jim gasped.

"Unless…" Kyouya rubbed his chin, pretending to ponder. "You do a favor for our kingdom. There is a kingdom 345 miles from here. A while ago, a friend of mine- the one who runs the kingdom- came across a tragic situation, unaware of his position. He was to meet with me years ago, but sadly disappeared. …I believe his second wife has something to do with it."

"What do you want us to do about it?" Jim asked.

"I want you to go to the castle. Say you are requesting to form a union between our kingdoms… and try to figure out what happened to the king and find evidence to help us to remove the 'queen' from office."

Sora and Jim looked at each other. "What if we can't find anything?" Sora asked.

Kyouya gave him a fierce, yet calm, look. "Then don't bother coming back."

"Believe us- we _will _be back." Jim said, giving Kyouya a glare.

They began to leave, until Kyouya snapped his fingers. "Not so fast, Hawkins. For this little quest, you will have a specific role,"

"Yeah? What?"

Kyouya gave a sly smirk. "Until you both return, you're going to pose as the prince."

_~End of Flashback, aaawww!~_

"So, your uncle knows about Bellatrix?" Kairi questioned. "Why hasn't he sent an army or something to take her out, then?!"

"Not enough evidence," Jim answered, shrugging.

"He said he had found a record of her being a witch, but couldn't prove if she had used her magic for evil purposes. He sent us here to find clues, after some sleuths he hired failed to return…" Sora answered.

"Those sleuths happen to be all of us," Biff 1 said, motioning to all the gangs.

"Whenever any of us got close enough to disclose her true form and plans, she'd pull some spell to capture us and make us her slaves," Valerie added.

"And she exiled Scooby, Jabber, Speedy, Fangsy, Cavey, Sebastian, and Funky so they couldn't help us capture her," Kim put in. "Without their help, we didn't have enough power to take her down. For us, they play a big part in helping us catch crooks,"

"…Well, except Sebastian. He doesn't do much, since he's just a cat." Tinker said… and Sebastian hit him with a snowball. "Hey!"

Sebastian only blew a raspberry at him.

"But now that you're out of the castle, you can come with us to Sora's kingdom!" Kairi exclaimed. "With all you as witnesses, we can overthrow Bellatrix and restore the kingdom!"

"Oh, that is a wonderful plan! Except for one thing…" came a voice.

Everyone turned, seeing Bellatrix standing there… and with her was a creature with the masculine body of a lion, the head similar to that of a bison, and arms and legs like that of a wolf- the beast!

"My beast here is going to kill you all," Bellatrix's cold gaze fell upon Kairi. "Starting with you, princess."

"Run Kairi!" Biff 2 shouted, while he and the rest of the meddlers formed a wall between her and the witch and beast.

"Scooby, you and the rest of the guys get Kairi to somewhere safe!" Velma ordered.

"Right!" Scooby said, and he, Fangface, Jabberjaw, Sebastian, Funky, and Captain Caveman leaped into Speed Buggy and shot off with Kairi.

"I'll handle Bellatrix," Sora said, summoning his keyblade. "I've handled worse witches than you, anyway!"

"We'll see," Bellatrix sneered, raising her wand, then turned to the beast. "Get the princess."

The Beast snarled, but was blocked by the meddlers. "You want Kairi, you'll have to go through us!" Mudsy snapped.

The Beast roared… scaring Shaggy, Alexander, and all the other cowards up the nearest tree. He prepared to strike the rest, but was hit by a snowball, and he turned to see Jim. "Hey, furball! Why don't you pick on your own species?!" the teen shouted.

In response, the Beast built a large snowball and chucked it at Jim, burying him in snow! He then barreled past the meddlers, knocking them into the snow, and ran off to find Kairi. "After it, quick!" Alan yelled, and they ran off after the Beast.

Bellatrix kept zapping spells at Sora, who luckily managed to dodge or block, and kept blasting at her with his keyblade, but to no avail.

Meanwhile with Kairi and the other meddlers, they were speeding back toward the castle. "We can't just leave them! We have to go back!" Kairi cried.

"But you might get killed!" Jabberjaw replied, concerned.

"Yeah, Kairi. I know what it's like to die- and it's NOT fun!" Funky added.

"I don't care! Bellatrix has been controlling my life ever since my father disappeared, tried to have me killed, destroyed everything my parents believed in, tried to force Jim into marriage, and now she's sent her beast to kill off the only friends I've ever had!" Kairi said, forcefully. "I am NOT going to just turn my back and run! Speed Buggy, turn around- we're saving our friends!"

"Rairi's right! We're roing rack!" Scooby said, equally determined.

"Ooh, ooh, I'm with the dog! *grr* We gotta help our friends!" Fangface added.

"Alright, lets go witch-hunting then! Nyuck-nyuck-nyuck!" Jabberjaw agreed.

"Vroom-a-zoom-zoom!" Speed Buggy exclaimed, turning around and speeding back toward their hideout…

Stopping in his tracks when the Beast leaped in front of them! "Why don't you pick on someone your own species?!" Funky snapped, flying up to the Beast… who roared in his face. The phantom raced back over, ducking behind Fangface. "Uh, Fangsy, you're closer to his species! Why don't you handle him?"

"*grr* Sure thing, guys! I'll get him!" Fangface said, and with a short howl, leaped in front of the Beast, both of them growling at each other.

"He won't be able to handle him alone," Kairi said, and summoned her keyblade, running up to Fangface's side, and summoning a ball of light at the end of her blade. "Lets take out this thing,"

"KAIRI! PUT OUT THE LIGHT, QUICK!" Captain Caveman cried. "Looks too much like sun!"

"What about a light?" Fangface said, then looked at the ball of light.

"Gah! Too late!" Funky gasped.

"I ran't rook!" Scooby whimpered.

Fangface suddenly began to swirl around, and turned into a lanky teenager, Fangs. "Huh? What am I doing out here? Last thing I remember, we were lying around after getting trampled by a moose, and-" he began to say, but was cut short by snarling. He turned toward the Beast, and instantly paled. "YEOW! WHAT IS THAT THING?! Somebody SAVE ME!"

He then ran and ducked down in Speed Buggy's backseat. "And THAT'S why he's not allowed to look at the sun, or anything close to it!" Jabberjaw explained.

Kairi turned to the Beast, who growled at her. She then realized too late that it had been a while since she had used her keyblade, for her first strike ended up missing the Beast and hitting a tree branch, knocking a bunch of snow onto the meddlers! She tried again, this time knocking the Beast back, but only made him angry.

"Kairi! The statue!" Crysta shouted to her, using her powers to move vines off the statue. "Use your keyblade to throw the statue at him!"

Kairi aimed, managing to move the statue. This, however, upset the Beast and he lunged at her, making her lose her concentration and drop the statue off to the side. Captain Caveman leaped to the rescue, bashing the Beast on the head, distracting him long enough for Kairi to try to levitate the statue again… but she paused.

She stared at the statue, walking over to it. "Uh, Kairi?! This is no time for sight-seeing!" Funky called.

_That face… I've seen it somewhere before! _Kairi thought, studying the statue- the short hair, the wide eyes, the face that resembled that of a young boy's, but had features that made it clear it was a girl. She remembered seeing the same kind of face on old portraits in the kingdom, before Bellatrix destroyed them…

"Mom?" Kairi whispered, gasping.

The Beast grabbed the club from Captain Caveman and struck him with it, knocking him into the other meddlers, then turned toward Kairi.

Back with Sora, Bellatrix managed to disarm him and used the Crucio curse on him, making him dangle in the air, writhing in pain. She smiled, preparing to strike him dead. Jim raced toward her to tackle her, but she struck him next, knocking him back, then turned back to Sora, her wand glowing green…

The Beast snarled and Kairi turned around, stunned, leaning against the statue as if imagining her mother would hold her defensively. The Beast paused, looking at both the princess and the statue, and realized they both seemed familiar, and his glare softened. Kairi studied his expression, seeing how he looked at the statue… the same way her father would look at the portraits of her mother… "Dad?" she guessed, quietly.

The other meddlers arrived. "Kairi!" Josie called. "Don't worry, we'll save-"

"It's my dad!" Kairi called to them. "Bellatrix must have cursed him!"

"How do we break the curse?" Shelly asked.

"Agh!" came a shout of pain, and Kairi recognized it as Sora's voice.

Without hesitation, she grabbed her keyblade, and ran over, seeing Bellatrix was torturing the prince. "Avara-" Bellatrix began to say.

*ZAP!*

Kairi struck her with her keyblade, finding her strength and not holding back. "This is for my MOM!" she shouted, striking the witch again. "This is for my DAD!" *Zap!* "This is for the kingdom!" *Zap!*

Bellatrix blasted at Kairi furiously, but the princess dodged. "You think that you can defeat me so easily?! Your prince couldn't even defeat me!" she snarled. "What makes you think-"

*ZAP!*

"And that's for your big mouth!" Kairi snapped.

Bellatrix stumbled, dropping her wand. She quickly reached for it… but Jim snatched it first, glaring at her. "And THIS… is for trying to make me your boy-toy!" he sneered, and snapped the wand in half!

There was a blast of light from the wand, which shot across the entire forest. Bellatrix screamed, her hair turning gray as her skin began to wrinkle. "YOU FOOL! All my power came from that wand! Without it-" she was shouting, but withered away into dust.

Back with the meddlers, they watched as the Beast was surrounded in light, as well as the statue… and once the lights disappeared, in their places stood Tamaki and Haruhi. "HARUHI!" Tamaki squealed, hugging his wife. "YOU'RE ALIVE OH MY GOSH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONE FOREVER I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!"

"I *gack* missed you too, Tamaki…" Haruhi gasped, as Tamaki hugged her tight. "C-Can you lighten your grip, please? This is the first time I've gotten to breath in a while…"

Kairi ran over to Sora, Jim at her side. "Are you okay?" she asked the prince.

"Yeah… wow, you really put a new meaning to 'fight like a girl', " he said, grinning.

Jim helped him up, and they ran over to the king and queen, who immediately hugged their daughter. "Mom, I thought you were swept out to sea…"

"It seemed that way…" Haruhi said. "But instead I was turned to stone, and placed in the middle of the forest. Bellatrix planned it that way, so that I could serve as a distraction to Tamaki in case he ever tried to leave the boundaries of the forest after she turned him into a Beast. …She bragged about her plan in front of me, not knowing I could hear her even as a statue,"

"Oh, I'm so glad to have you both back!" Tamaki squealed, hugging them both, then turned to Sora, Jim, and the meddlers. "Oh, how can I thank you all enough?"

"Well, your highness, it was actually Kairi who saved the day," Sora said.

"But I couldn't have done it without any of your help," Kairi told him, looking at all her friends. "I wouldn't have survived without any of you. I have to thank you somehow,"

"Whatever you want, you name it," Haruhi said.

The meddlers all looked at each other, smiling, while Sora and Jim looked at each other, having matching grins.

*XIV*

**Next Chapter: The Ending!**

**Cameos:**

**-Beast (Beauty and the Beast)**

**-Kyouya (Ouran High School Host Club)**


	15. Chapter XV

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

***XV***

It was a beautiful new beginning for the kingdom since Bellatrix's defeat.

With the snow and ice gone, and the storms passing, the forest was lush and green once more, flowers blooming and wildlife prospering. The rest of Crysta's fairies returned as well, having been cast out of the forest due to Bellatrix's dark magic, and Crysta was praised for staying strong despite the difficulties of keeping watch over the forest.

Scooby-Doo, Jabberjaw, Speed Buggy, Funky Phantom, Sebastian, Captain Caveman, and Fangface returned to their gangs, telling them about how they had to result to stealing- though doing a poor job 98 percent of the time- up until the day Kairi helped them become accepted by the town again. The gangs were understanding, of course, and were happy to have their friends back.

As for the town, everything was as it had been years ago. People were well-housed, everyone had a job and were making good money, and there was no fear of crime or walking the streets alone, now that the greed of the witch had been abolished and everyone got what they deserved (…now if only someone could fix the problem with the US…)

*ahem* With the kingdom restored to its natural glory and no longer looking like a crap-hole, everyone celebrated, and our heroes were rewarded. The meddlers became heads of royal security, Crysta was in charge of keeping to the forest, and Jim and Sora were forgiven and welcomed back into their own kingdom.

Speaking of the prince, he was rewarded with Kairi's hand in betrothing. (Tamaki, of course, threw a fit and threatened to chop off Sora's head if he were to corrupt his daughter, until Haruhi calmed him down and claimed the boy was decent enough to respect their daughter… and how Kairi and Sora embarrassingly convinced him that- considering they were only 14 and not like the modern-day teenagers today- they preferred to start off as friends before rushing into anything).

…So, lets fast-forward a good six years to their wedding day, shall we?

_Six Years Later…_

Kairi stood in front of Sora, holding a bouquet of roses. Jim stood beside Sora as the best-man while Crysta stood beside Kairi as her maid of honor. "Dearly beloved," The author announced, being the one to join them in holy matrimony (hey, I deserve at least ONE cameo in this story!). "We're gathered here today to join together the union of Princess Kairi Suoh and Prince Sora Oortori… (strange giving them surnames, but considering this is a fan-fiction, I shall digress). Before we begin, is there anyone here who has any reason these two should not be together? Speak now, or forever hold your peace."

Tamaki raised his hand, about to say something, but Haruhi and Kyouya tackled him and covered his mouth with duct-tape.

The author shrugged. "Alrighty then. I now pronounce you man and wife- so go ahead and make-out,"

Sora and Kairi kissed and the crowd cheered. All the meddlers burst into tears. "I-I love a happy ending!" Jabberjaw sniffled.

"Yeah, it's just like that one movie they made from a fairytale… the one that starred Julia Roberts," Fangface agreed.

"What was it called?" Funky asked.

"I believe it was called… um…" Speed Buggy began. "*sputter* What was it called?"

"Me thinking, me thinking…" Captain Caveman said, scratching his head.

All the meddlers snapped their fingers. "_Pretty Woman_!" they exclaimed.

"Reow…" Sebastian sneered, slapping his forehead.

Steve- or Stefan- walked up to Laura. "So, Laura, how about a date? Since we won't be working for any witches anytime soon," he said.

Laura smiled. "Sure, why not?" she said.

*Poof!* Stefan was back to Steve.

Laura's smile faded. "…There's why,"

"Um, I can change back…" Steve said.

Laura hooked his arm. "There's a better reason to!"

Sora and Kairi pulled out of their kiss, smiling and walking down the aisle, the princess the happiest she had ever been, knowing that her life was her own again.

"_And with the witch gone and the kingdom restored, _

_The people danced in celebration._

_The king and queen were back on the throne_

_And all rejoiced in jubilation._

_But now the tale is over, _

_And it is time for us to part._

_Yet have no fear dear audience,_

_For this is just the start…"_

With that final narration, Poindexter vanished from the mirror, free from the spell and returning to the Ghost Zone. He looked back once more. "THAT is how you rhyme," he said, then was off.

**The End.**


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